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Two belleville catholic schools to merge at end of this school year

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Independent, outspoken, and very much her own person. That gives a partial description of a woman who has become well known in the diocese for promoting, protecting and supporting life, not just the issues but the people themselves.

This summer Celeste Cocheba celebrated her 90th birthday and was recognized by the diocesan Respect Life Office for her work, but she hasn’t retired to a rocking chair to enjoy the sunset of her life. The sun still shines for her, and as long as the sun shines, and she feels called to service, she will continue to promote life every day.

At present, Celeste is volunteer director of the Pregnancy Care Center in Belleville where she has served for more than 20 years.

“I really believe you’re called to do things,” Celeste said, “and the older you get, the more you should realize that when you are called to something, you should know and you should follow.”

That philosophy and her Catholic faith have dictated her life, and she said she has been richly rewarded for it.
Born in St. Libory, she began life on a farm and later moved to town when her father became mayor, and he ran a store.

She attended the “Catholic/public” elementary school in St. Libory, meaning the state rented the parish school building and religion was taught before the public school day began.

Her freshman year in high school she attended a boarding school in Missouri taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, but she only stayed one year.

“Those were hard times, she said. “This was the Depression.” She moved back to the farm to attend Freeburg High School and help her family.

“The older I got, the more I realized what a saint my mother was,” she said. “I didn’t know how hard it was for her until later; she never said anything.”
Graduating from high school, she was married at 19 and has three children. Her husband, John, died in 2004 of Parkinson’s disease.

While her children were growing up and her husband was working at Broadhead Motor Co., in East St. Louis, she ran the farm, taking care of a milk cow and learning to butcher and make sausage, among her other duties. “I think everybody should have a chance to live on a farm for awhile,” she said.
For her middle daughter, Carol Schwartz, who shares the same birthday as her mother, Celeste has been and continues to be a role model.

“From the moment I was born, she gave to me everything a mother could, including her birthday.”
Also sharing with her mother a gift of pinpointing the most important characteristics in describing someone, Carol said: “At 68, I have yet to see a bad side or even a wavering commitment in her life. She is dedicated and committed to the highest standards, never compromising those, and she always expected the same of me and the other children.”
When her children entered college, Celeste said they “ganged up” on her. “You think college is so important, you should go,” they said.

She began her college career at 40, and when a junior, counselors asked her what she wanted to do. “I didn’t know,” she said.

They told her she had prepared herself to be an elementary school teacher. With that, she began a 17-year career as a fifth-grade teacher at St. Peter Cathedral in Belleville.

Celeste immersed herself not only in the needs of her family but in her role as a teacher in the school and the trainer for 100 servers and 36 torch bearers at the cathedral.

Carol describes a typical day at that time for her mother: Celeste left home early in the morning for school, practiced with the servers after school and then went home where she tutored grandchildren who might have needed extra help. About 8:30 or 9 p.m. she began her own “homework” grading papers and preparing for the next day at school.
“She didn’t ever separate work from life,” Carol said, “and she never let anything get her down. She accepted whatever the Lord handed her.”

For Celeste, her three children have always been important. Carol said she was always available for them. Celeste describes them as “my three closest friends.” (Her son and youngest daughter were not available to be interviewed for this story.)

Celeste also has a special gift of turning everything over to the Lord.

It’s almost uncanny, Carol said. If she needs something at the pregnancy care center, a particular size of diaper or a baby bed or clothes, she thinks about that when she goes home, may mention it to her daughter and then turns it over to the Lord.

Within days, Carol said, whatever was needed becomes available, whether someone drops off the needed items, calls about those items or makes a donation that covers the cost of the items. It just seems to work out, she said.
Celeste said in everything she does she relies on common sense and the Holy Spirit. “I always pray to the Holy Spirit because I don’t know what is going to happen this day.”

And the days at the center provide many unexpected opportunities to begin and build relationships with the young women who visit, some needing pregnancy tests, others needing clothing and assistance, and all of them receiving a warm welcome.

However, Celeste does not mince words when young women come in for counseling. While compassionate and concerned, she opens their eyes to reality and makes sure they understand that their actions have consequences.
“I don’t judge (the people who come to the center),” she said. “I haven’t walked in their shoes.”

When a young woman receives news she is pregnant Celeste gives her a hand-crocheted baby hat to use at the baby’s birth. “It’s a gift,” she said. Sister Leola Brown, OSF, aid. Sister Leola Brown, OSF, crochets the caps and afghans for the babies.

When a new mother is considering an abortion, Celeste tells them she knows it’s her choice, but she has a special gift and gives them an afghan. “I tell them it’s a bribe,” she said. Often, Celeste receives a telephone call telling her the afghan won’t be returned, meaning the mother has decided to keep the baby.

The center remains busy in its new quarters at 301 West Lincoln, Suite 52, in Belleville.

Across the street from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Celeste praises the hospital for its constant support. “Without St. Elizabeth’s we absolutely could not operate. They are so helpful and so good, providing free space for the center as well as the pregnancy tests that are used.

Many people donate to the center with schools and churches hosting “showers” to collect new and used clothing and supplies, and many volunteers help out at the center, she said.

Her friend, Gloria Schwartz, calls Celeste the “energizer bunny.”

Always interested in people, Gloria said: “She had a way with students that didn’t excel to bring them out” when she was teaching. She is always “interested in young people, asking about their lives.”

When a parishioner at the cathedral, her granddaughter told Celeste that the youth organization would not be able to continue because no adult had stepped forward as a volunteer moderator. Naturally, Celeste took the job and remained active with parish youth for many years.

It was another way the Lord had called her to reach out to young people.

Always “awake,” praying and listening to what the Lord will call her to do, Celeste said “life” is her passion, and “learning something new every day.”

For the many people she has inspired or helped, she remains a role model. “Every day I get up and say here I am again, Lord.”