It was a warm, dusty day in 1942 as the Model T truck bounced along the road from Lamesa to Stanton. As they came out of a small valley between hills there upon a rise was the town of Stanton. On the north side of town was the large complex of buildings, one of the best private Catholic schools in the area. Seaborn Jeffries was taking his oldest daughter, Ruth, to enroll in Our Lady of Mercy Academy, operated by the Sisters of Mercy. Mrs. Sophie Jeffries-White made that faithful trip with her family and recalls the first site of the muted yellow buildings with porches going all the way around. It was a grand site for this four year old who spent most of her days on the family farm off on the Southern Great Plains.

Sophie had never seen a place quite like it. She had never imagined such a large and ornate gate leading to the circle drive between the buildings. Gates to her were made of wood; like the ones on the farm. The buildings must have seemed huge to Sophie. Mother Superior Mary Stanislaus Broderick greeted them at the front doors of the central administration building and escorted them inside. The building was beautiful! Walking through the doors she was greeted with a red carpeted staircase leading to the second floor. Carpet was a rarity on the plains since no one had vacuum cleaners and it was difficult to clean. Sophie claims, "...it looked like it went all the way to Heaven."

The buildings formed a horse-shoe shape facing south towards Stanton. There was a large adobe church, a two story central administration building, and on the east, a two story building housing classrooms and boarding rooms. The school sat on about one and half acres with a large windmill in the back pasture and an extensive water system.

The Sisters of Mercy opened the doors to a day and boarding school in 1898. The property was sold to the sisters by the Carmelite friars who had founded the town of Marienfeld, later to be called Stanton, in 1882. For forty-four years the sisters operated Our Lady of Mercy Academy.

The private Catholic school was the place of choice for residents in the surrounding communities and as far away as New Mexico and Oklahoma. A tornado damaged the buildings in 1938 and it was closed with a great deal of sadness.

Sophie's sister, Ruth Jeffries, finished her formal education at the academy in 1926 and entered Our Lady of Mercy Convent in Stanton three years later. Final vows were taken in 1929 as Sister Mary Mercedes Jeffries. She went on to Slaton, Texas, to work in the hospital there operated by the Sisters if Mercy. Mrs. Sophie Jeffries-White of Big Spring, who was herself enrolled at the academy in 1934, will always remember her time spent in Our Lady of Mercy Academy. She still remembers Easter time with the alter of the church loaded with lilies. To this day when she smells Easter Lilies "it smells like the Convent at Stanton." At this special time of year Sophie recalls, "The nuns always put a basket full of Easter eggs by my bed for me to find in the morning." Her memories of the academy are still strong and they are carried close to her heart.

For forty-four years the Mercy Sisters provided a quality education for young boys and girls in West Texas. Though time, an increase in public education and the tornado of 1938 caused the school to close it's doors forever. The only remaining building once used by the Carmelite munks as their monastery and later used by the Mercy sisters as the chapel and living quarters.

There are many more stories like these from the student who had the good fortune to attend Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Stanton. If you know of a story about Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Stanton we would love to hear it.