St. Emma Military Academy Appoints New First Captain
Cadet Donald Wiltz, age 17, of St. Martinville, Louisiana received the appointment of 1st Captain of the Battalion at the St. Emma Military Academy in Rock Castle, Virginia. He started the new term as the highest ranking Cadet Officer at the R.O.T.C. boarding high school, which housed students from all parts of the country. St. Emma military activities were under the supervision of a resident officer of the United States Army.
Cadet Wiltz was studying plumbing in the Vocational School and was also an enthusiastic member of the Agricultural School’s riding class. He is shown at the horse barn with one of his favorites.
Young Donald Wiltz was born in St. Martinville, St. Martin parish, Louisiana, south of Lafayette, circa 1927. In 1940 at age 13, before earning his appointment as 1st Captain, he lived on Water Street with his father, Clarence Wiltz, a successful baker, his mother, Ethel and his two sisters, Wander and Joanne. They lived a few households from Lionel Wiltz and his family…wife Ivy and daughters Shirley and Jenerita.
Sources: Louisiana Weekly, 10 March 1945, pg. 11; 1940 U.S. Census.
LAG
This post compliments other posts we have related to Xavier University and Xavier University Preparatory School. Saint Emma’s Military Academy was founded in 1895 by Louise Drexel Morrell, the sister of Mother Katharine Drexel. Mother Katharine founded Saint Francis de Sales Industrial Institute (for girls) in 1899, on a parcel adjoining Saint Emma’s. These schools often referred to as “Belmead” (Saint Emma’s) and “Rock Castle” (Saint Francis) educated over 20,000 students before closing in 1972 and 1970, respectively.
See also http://www.FrancisEmma.org for website of St. Francis de Sales and St. Emma Schools, Powhatan, VA.