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Charla Trader '64 (center) with
Head of School Sr. Jane Meyer, O.P.
and Rosalie Montalbano Brandino '64.
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Charla Ward Trader '64
Alumna grateful for SAA friendships
Treasured St. Agnes Academy memories are among what is most valuable to Charla Ward Trader '64, the 2011 Alumnae Veritas Award recipient. As an alumna from the first class to graduate from the Academy's 9000 Bellaire Blvd. campus, her favorite moments as a student involve her friends and the people who are part of the St. Agnes family.
"I have all of these wonderful friends from my days at St. Agnes," she said. "We still get together once a month! The biggest gift St. Agnes gave me was the friendships I still hold very dear today. And my education was excellent; I'm so grateful for it."
She fondly recalls the long commutes from downtown, after the campus first opened on Bellaire in the fall of 1963. "Initially, it was like going from hell to heaven (moving to the new campus)," Charla said. "It took us a lot of effort to get there. I can remember carpooling from downtown with a classmate who had a stick shift and we kept getting stuck on the overpasses along (highway) 59."
Charla was an Academy cheerleader, she worked on The Columns, the school newspaper, and the Veritas yearbook. But her connection to St. Agnes did not end on her graduation day. As a longtime volunteer, Charla was a two-term board member for the St. Agnes Foundation and a regular Career Day speaker. She was an active volunteer while her daughters Shannon Beirne Wiesdeppe '90 and Kelly Beirne Stephens '93 were Academy students. At St. Cecilia Catholic School, she was a library volunteer and a room mother, and was equally supportive at St. Thomas High School where her son, Martin, was a student. Charla's granddaughter, Nicole Doré, graduated from St. Agnes this year.
Charla is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas, where she received degrees in business and social work, and attended Spring Hill College. She's been involved in the real-estate industry for 38 years and is currently a broker with Keller-Williams Metropolitan. Her true passion is travel and, as a true Academy woman, Charla continues to visit places off the beaten path. Her favorite city and the site of a recent trip is Barcelona.
"I'm addicted to traveling and seeing new places all around the world," she said. "It's something everyone should do! Don't put it off. Just do it!"
For her ongoing dedication to her alma mater, as well as her professional achievements, leadership, passion for community service, and her thirst for learning, the St. Agnes Academy Alumnae Association proudly presented the 2011 Alumnae Veritas Award to Charla Trader.
"I'm so grateful for this honor," she said. "But I'm also so undeserving. St. Agnes has given me so much and that is what I am truly thankful for."
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