Did you know that St. Frederick High School was named for a college kid? Back in 1935, young Rae Frederick Rinehart, Jr. was attending Northeast Center Louisiana State University (later ULM) as a freshman. He was his parents’ only child and the center of their world. In February of that year, Rae was stricken with Typhoid fever. Hopes were held out that the young man would recover, but it was not to be. One month later on March 29, 1935, his 17th birthday, Rae succumbed. He was lovingly buried in St. Mathew Cemetery.
Twenty-five years after Rae’s death, St. Mathew’s Catholic school was running out of room. There was no room for expansion of the downtown location. Rae’s mother, Laura Bres Breard Rinehart, stepped in. She donated a ten acre tract of land to the Diocese of Alexandria to be used for a new Catholic High School. Her only stipulation was that it would be named for her son. The ten acres was accepted, sold and the proceeds were used to buy the present site of the school. Mrs. Rinehart’s request was honored, and it has been called St. Frederick ever since!
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 