Contacts & Publisher

Subscription Form

Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / One proud graduate

Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published September 28, 2007

Photos by Joe Kohn Jerry Wilkins and his wife, Ann, have been married for 59 years. Jerry, who missed his senior year at Detroit Catholic Central High School after being drafted into World War II, was scheduled to be presented his diploma from the school at a school pep rally today.

Roseville – After the end of their junior year, most young men attending Catholic Central High School spend a year of hard study, perhaps play on a sports or academic team, and scope out colleges before they receive their diplomas.

Not Jerry Wilkins.

A member of the class of 1944, Wilkins was drafted into the Navy after his junior year, served in World War II, came home, got married, had a long career with Michigan Bell, raised four children, had grandchildren, retired, and became chaplain of the honor guard in his VFW post.

Today – 63 years after his graduating class received their CC diplomas – Wilkins was to have received his very own diploma and officially become a CC graduate of the class of 1944.

"Now, I'll feel like I'm really an alumnus," said Wilkins, who today was to have been handed his official diploma in front of his family, fellow alumni and the entire student body during the school's biggest pep rally. "When I receive mail from (Catholic Central), I'll feel like they're really sending it to me now, and not just a name."

Because he turned 18 in December of 1942, Wilkins was eligible to be drafted into WWII during his junior year. He wound up leaving for the war before beginning his senior year – joining the Navy like his older brother Stan, who graduated from Catholic Central in 1942.

After three years in the service, Wilkins returned from the war and earned his GED. Though Catholic Central High School included him in their alumni mailings with his class, he'd never actually received a diploma from the school.

Recently, he'd hinted to his brother that it'd be nice to have that diploma, and Stan – who's active at the school organizing alumni events – passed those hints on to the administration.

Jerry Wilkins shows off his 1943 Catholic Central year book, which he still flips through for fond memories.

In short order, the school's president, Fr. Richard Elmer and the principal, Fr. Richard Ranalletti, CSB, promised Jerry his diploma.

"This is great. I always thought he had one," said Stan, chuckling. "When we started talking about it, that surprised me. I couldn't believe it."

In fact, Fr. Ranalletti had been mindful of Michigan Public Act 181, an act established in 2003 that enabled honorably discharged veterans of WWII and the Korean Conflict to receive diplomas from Michigan high schools.

Though the act was intended for public schools, Fr. Ranalletti agreed with the sentiment.

"To put yourself in the place of these people, when they were discharged they were in their early 20s, out in the world without a high school diploma," Fr. Ranalletti said. "All they could do was get their GED and go onto college."

Fr. Ranalletti told the alumni office that they should award diplomas to CC students who were in such a situation.

As for Jerry, he'd always stored fond memories of his days at Catholic Central. Still very active in his 80s, he and his wife, Ann, are parishioners – and he's an usher – at St. Mary Parish in Detroit's Greektown. He talks about the 1940s with ease. He recalls playing football for Fr. James Martin, and taking Latin in Fr. French's class, where he learned a valuable lesson about not copying homework.

He points to pages of his 1943 Catholic Central year book, recalling skits his classmates would put on during assemblies – a tradition that still lives at the school.

When he was drafted, he said it was difficult to leave the school behind – but the Navy gave him enough to anticipate, so CC wasn't always on his mind.

"It kind of puts you back a little bit," Jerry said. "You say, 'I'm going to miss this and I'm going to miss that'… but (at war) you didn't think about high school. You didn't have time to think about anything."

On joining the Navy, Jerry flew to Virginia for gunnery training. He can rattle off a list of places — from Nova Scotia to the Mediterranean — that he visited while serving on five ships. He eventually became a Gunner's Mate, 3rd class before his honorable discharge.

He recalls standing guard on the ships at night, watching for torpedoes.

Though it took him from his normal life, the experience is one he says he wouldn't trade.

"To be honest, I enjoyed every bit of it," he said. "It made a man out of you, I guess."

Still, after more than six decades – and about 60 years of marriage now, too – finally receiving the high school diploma that he sacrificed is significant. He's even agreed to lead his VFW honor guard in a ceremony at the Boy's Bowl football game this Sunday, and present the school with a new American flag as a sign of his appreciation.

"It's wonderful," said his wife, Ann, who he'd met shortly at Holy Name Parish in Detroit shortly after the war. "He's a type of person that this is very important to."

And it should be meaningful to more than Jerry Wilkins, hopes Fr. Ranalletti. During today's Boy's Bowl school assembly, the principal says they're honoring a CC man who's served as a role model.

"This man is an example of what it means to be an American and serve your country," Fr. Ranalletti said. "He answered the call when it was given, and I think it's an incredible statement to people about the kinds of sacrifices that people of that generation made."