St. Margaret’s visionary founder, The Reverend Canon Ernest D. Sillers, was honored by the Lower School this week on his 107^th birthday.

The Lower School dedicated its Chapel on Monday to celebrate Fr. Sillers’ life and his vision for St. Margaret’s, which endures to this day. The presentation included a video produced by grade 5 core council students that reflected on his life.

The grade 5 core council worked with Lower School Director of Community Life Tupper Spring to write the script for the video and arrange interviews with St. Margaret’s community members. Grade 5 students in core council, green team, PAWsitive Character Committee and the ARTS Committee appeared in the video, giving details about Fr. Sillers’ life.

“We saw Father Sillers’ birthday as a great opportunity to celebrate his life and legacy while also teaching students about the history of St. Margaret’s,” Ms. Spring said. “The grade 5 students did a great job writing the script for the overview of his life and conducting interviews with members of the St. Margaret’s community who so fondly remember Father Sillers.”

Among the Tartans that grade 5 students talked to about “Father Ern,” as he was called, were founding and current faculty member Susan Remsberg, SMES graduates Mark Risner and Jennifer Risner, Fr. Sillers’ longtime secretary Sharon Sarpa, Lower School principal Jennifer Blount ’87, St. Margaret’s parent and grandparent Beverly Cordova, and longtime Lower School Administrative Assistant Denise Helms. All shared stories about their interactions with Fr. Sillers and what current students should know about him.

In addition, current Head of School Will Moseley described how St. Margaret’s continues to carry Fr. Sillers’ vision forward.

Mrs. Sarpa, Mrs. Helms and Mrs. Cordova all attended Monday’s Chapel. Mrs. Remsberg delivered the homily at Tuesday’s chapel, sharing more details about the founding of the school.

Fr. Sillers founded St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in 1979 with 79 students grades K-6. He served as headmaster until 1986, and remained close the school until his passing on Oct. 15, 2009 at the age of 99.

Fr. Sillers went on to start two more schools in Orange County, but always took particular pride in his work at St. Margaret’s and his memorial service was held here. One of his favorite sayings was, “It is better to build children than to repair men.”

“Though much has changed since those early days with Father Sillers, we are still living his mission,” grade 5 student Emma Kim said in the video. “It is not only appropriate to celebrate his birthday, but to share that that we are grateful for the life and work of Father Ernest Sillers.”