It will be a small but enthusiastic group when the Catholic Girls High School class of 1936 holds its 70th reunion May 18.

Margaret McConnell Rendler, who served as student body president, will host the reunion for those surviving members of the original class of 138 young women --- the 13th graduating class of what was then known as Catholic Girls High School, and the first class to graduate in the year that Los Angeles was designated an Archdiocese.

Archbishop John J. Cantwell (as Bishop Cantwell) had erected the school in memory of his predecessor, Bishop Thomas Conaty. In his 30-year (1917-47) episcopacy, the unique girls' high school on Pico Boulevard was one of his major accomplishments. The motto he imparted, Veritas vos Liberabit ("The truth shall make you free"), ennobled the lives of hundreds of graduates.

In 1936, Rendler says, girls came from every part of the city by streetcar (it was a fortunate senior who drove her own car), and pastors paid a minimal monthly tuition for their student parishioners. Msgr. Thomas Moran, of County Carlow, Ireland, was the principal and enforced discipline "sternly," according to Rendler. The school uniform was a plain dark jumper.

"It was the only year without an annual," she recalls, "but we had a senior yearbook. We had all kinds of sports, a big orchestra and we were the first class to wear shorts!"

Among the many notable graduates of the 1936 class is the student body president herself: a mother of nine children, a doctor of optometry and prominent laywoman who has contributed to or headed numerous charitable and secular organizations which led to her designation as a 1992 recipient of the Cardinal's Award.

"We have frequently gotten together over the years," Rendler said, noting that attendees will include Marie (Lefevre) Lindsay, Gretchen (Caspary) DeStefano and Immaculate Heart community member Noel Sweeny from Canada. Lindsay was one of the founding members of Marian Homes, residences for developmentally disabled adults.

One notable absence will be Frances Kent, the Immaculate Heart Sister who became the famous artist Corita Kent, who died in 1986. Her work is recognized in museums around the world.

Rendler cherishes one of Corita's serigraphs that she has in her home with a message that still rings true for all of her class: "One thing I know, the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."

Those memories and many others will entertain the group meeting May 18 at 11:30 for lunch at Margaret's home. For reservations, call Minerva Forster-Magers, (310) 839-1522.

---Hermine Lees