Cosgriff family members visit namesake school

IC photo/Laura Vallejo

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Trix Cosgriff Dahl, granddaughter of J.E. Cosgriff (back, left), listens attentively to the questions that the students of the school asked her during her visit.

SALT LAKE CITY — J.E. Cosgriff Memorial Catholic School was founded in 1957 through the donations of the Cosgriff family, who through their generosity made the school a reality.

Now, 60 years later, the granddaughter of James E. Cosgriff visited the school to share with the students and faculty some memories and historical facts of how and why her family donated the funds to the school.

“It is so exciting for the children and for all of us to experience [her visit],” said Danielle Jefferies, the school’s development director.

Upon arriving, Trix Cosgriff Dahl, along with her husband and son, visited some classrooms and toured the school. Then she addressed an assembly in the school’s social hall.

“This is a very special day for us at J.E. Cosgriff School,” said Betsy Hunt, the school’s principal. “We have some very special guests with us today; we would like to welcome them,” said Hunt as she presented the Cosgriff Dahl family members.

“It is because of your parents and most generous family that the doors of J.E. Cosgriff School opened 60 years ago,” Hunt said.

Cosgriff Dahl said that her grandfather had a great love for the Catholic community and especially for the school. She presented a slideshow of images of her grandfather, J.E. Cosgriff.

“My grandfather’s parents came from Ireland, but they were different from any other Irish people that came around that time (1815),” she said. “Most of them settled in New York or Boston, but the Cosgriff family decided to move to Vermont where they settled and got a farm. … They eventually built a store there.”

She narrated how her grandfather, after finishing high school, moved to Wyoming with two of his older brothers. They got involved in the sheep business.

However, “before he left Vermont, he became a teacher. In those days you learned to be a teacher by being a teacher,” she said.

After moving to Utah, J.E. Cosgriff became a teacher at Judge Memorial Catholic School. He also was the founder of Continental Bank.

“He died six years before I was born,” said Cosgriff Dahl, but she learned stories about him from her grandmother, who decided to establish a memorial in his honor.

When the Cosgriff family approached the Diocese of Salt Lake City and asked about establishing a memorial to J.E. Cosgriff, “the answer was that they needed a school, and they needed it right on this spot,” Cosgriff Dahl said.

Now, “you are the ones that make this a wonderful, wonderful school,” she told the students.

During her narrative, the students were attentive and raised their hands to ask questions. For example one student asked how old she was when the school was built.

“I was 12 years old,” she responded.

As the presentation drew to a close, Hunt thanked the Cosgriff Dahl family “for the love and support to our Catholic community and to  our school.”

Members of the school senior council presented Cosgriff Dahl with a basket filled with items that represented school pride, with symbolic colors and the mascot. They also thanked her “for the many opportunities and excellent Catholic education that we receive each day.”