Angela Basha papers

Angela (Angie) Rowland Basha was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to T. Raymond Rowland and Martine Rowland, in 1936.  She attended Bishop England High School and Palmer College.  Basha co-authored Gracious Goodness: Christmas in Charleston and compiled and edited Celebrating the Past Embracing the Future: the 150th Anniversary Sesquicentennial of The Charleston Rifle Club 1855 - 2005. She also worked as the secretary to the BEHS endowment office. Bishop England High School (BEHS), a Catholic high school, was founded in 1915 by Reverend Joseph O'Brien and Reverend J.J. May with the approval of Henry N. Northrop, Bishop of Charleston.  The high school enrolled sixty-seven students in four grade levels; seventh, ninth, tenth, and eleventh with the first graduating class in 1917.  Classes were conducted in the second floor Cathedral school on Queen Street and occupied six classrooms with a faculty comprised of three priests and three nuns.  This arrangement was for only one year when Mrs. Thomas F. Ryan of New York, New York, donated property to the diocese. The high school transferred to a temporary building at 203 Calhoun Street, while funds donated by Catholics of Charleston were raised to construct a new high school building.  On October 12, 1921, William T. Russell, fifth Bishop of Charleston laid the cornerstone of the new BEHS building. Joseph O'Brien served as BEHS rector for thirty-two years until 1947, when John L. Manning succeed him.  O'Brien remained rector emeritus until his death in 1952.

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