A Commitment to Providence

Ana María (Laborde) De La Portilla is a graduate of Providence High School and is now the Director of Associates for the Congregation of Divine Providence. One morning at a small gathering, Sister Ramona Bezner told us about when she first came to know Ana María. And Ana María told us the story, as follows.

“When Sister Ramona Bezner was principal at Providence, she invited three alumnae to be board members—Rosemary Treviño Lopez, Mary Kaznowski Havel, and Ana María Laborde. Since I had a public relations business that focused on non-profit organizations, my role was to begin the development office for Providence. I was to assist Sister Rose Marie Gallatin in putting together a newsletter (we named it “The ProVue”), and sending correspondence to the alumnae database we were creating. For me, the roles were switched, here I was instructing my former English teacher on desktop publishing, newsletter formatting, and publicity techniques. We worked together for about three years, and I enjoyed giving back to the school that helped form the rest of my personal and professional life.

“Later, we were joined by Sister Rose Kruppa who also was invested in promoting Providence and seeing it flourish, and continues to be invested in the school.

To this day, I hold Providence near and dear and will help in any way I am able. I am sure Sister Rose Marie has copies of the newsletter and many other materials we worked on, including the first alumnae directory.”