The Cayuga-Onondaga Board of Cooperative Educational Services dedicated the Career and Technology Wing of its new facility on West Genesee Street Road in the Town of Aurelius Sept. 29 to the memory of Raymond T. Sant, who was district superintendent of Schools from 1936-66.

Ray was a distinguished native of Fair Haven, where he was born in 1900, and lived in Cato from 1936-89, when he died.

He is credited with merging and consolidating the school districts, north of the Seneca River, into the Cato-Meridian Central School, in 1939. As a pioneer in the school centralization movement, he was credited with convincing the northern Cayuga County residents to send their children to the new central school. Ray was a 1925 graduate of Syracuse University and was the principal of several smaller schools until he was appointed as District Superintendent of Schools, for the Northern District of Cayuga County, in 1936. At that time, he was the superintendent of 48 one-room schools and three high schools consisting of Fair Haven, Cato and Meridian.

Ultimately, he became the superintendent of the eight central school districts, outside of the city of Auburn, consisting of Cato-Meridian, Weedsport, Port Byron, Union Springs, Moravia, Sherwood, Genoa and King Ferry.

In 1952, he became the first BOCES superintendent and guided this cooperative effort until the time of his retirement in 1966, when he retired and was replaced by Dr. Leo A. Soucy. During his tenure Ray shepherded the consolidation of the Genoa, Sherwood and King Ferry schools into Southern Cayuga Central School which, at that time, was the first time that three school districts had agreed to merge.

While he was a pioneer in the centralization movement, he was also an early advocate of vocational training for students, recognizing that successful graduates should have a trade or vocation.

Raymond was active in a host of community activities, and was especially proud, to have founded the annual Christmas party in the village of Cato, being the first president of the Cato Rotary Club, and organizer of the CIVic Heritage, which is an organization devoted to preserving the culture and history of the four northern towns in Cayuga County.

He was a past commander of the Cayuga County American Legion, enlisted in World War II as a First Lieutenant and retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel.

He is well remembered in Fair Haven-Sterling as having authored two books about the Fair Haven-Sterling Area titled “Fair Haven Folk and Folklore” and also “Trails, Rails and Sails.”

Linda Daly, a Cato community leader, remarked after hearing someone say that Ray was the right person at the right time, said that “Ray was the right person at anytime.” He was known for his modesty, his organizational abilities, his love for Fair Haven-Sterling and Cato and his great contributions to the area.

Raymond T. Sant was recognized state wide as an educational leader and in his home communities as a common man who accomplished extraordinary things.

Ray dedicated his life to education and achieved more in his years in the field than the vast majority of his contemporaries. It is because of his efforts that our rural schools were able to meet the standards of excellence that urban schools had while at the same time providing vocational opportunities that were previously non-existent.

Education was his legacy. We have the late Raymond T. Sant to thank for his dedication to our communities which resulted in more educational opportunities for our children.

Eva Taylor Sholes is the town of Cato historian and can be reached at 834-6306