St. Ann Parish will celebrate its 100th anniversary and the 55th anniversary of the ordination of Father Donald G. Potts Sunday, July 26th.

Also that day, Jan LaPorte will retire as Potts’ administrative assistant. She has been with St. Ann for 20 years.

A 10 a.m. a Eucharistic Celebration will be followed by a dinner.

On Aug. 31, Potts will conclude his 28 years as pastor and will assume pastor emeritus status. He will continue to reside in the rectory, but will be handing over the responsibilities for the parish.

LaPorte volunteered as youth minister during the 1990s and in February 2002 became the full-time administrative assistant.

St. Ann became a mission of Holy Maternity Parish in Dowagiac in July of 1915. Bishop Foley of Detroit blessed the little frame building on East Water Street as the first St. Ann Church.

There were 25 families when the Lansing Diocese created St. Ann. In 1939 St. Ann became a mission of the Holy Family Church in Decatur.

Ground was broken in 1955 on the current site and the church was dedicated Oct. 23, 1955.

Three years later in November of 1958, St. Ann was canonically established as a parish.

In 1964, Edwardsburg became of mission of St. Ann. Our Lady of the Lake was canonically established as a parish.

Over the years there have been additions to the church and changes.

Father Peter Coffey replaced Father Joseph Egan and remained at the parish until July of 1987 when Father Potts replaced him.

“When I came I had to do a lot of renovations,” Potts said. “When he left he put in the bulletin ‘the Coffey is gone, but the Potts’ is here. He was not known for his sense of humor, but I thought that was pretty neat. Now the Potts is gone.”

Among the significant changes Potts have overseen include repairing the church after a Dec. 17 arson. The parishioners would not return to St. Ann’s until May 27, 1995.

“I said it was a curse and a blessing,” Potts said. “Otherwise we would have never had the extensive renovation. We were out of the church for five months.”

St. Ann Parish extended an open invitation to anyone wishing to participate in the celebration and take the opportunity to share memories with Potts and LaPorte.

To make reservations, call 445-3000 or stanncass@frontier.com.