By Evan Merrill
NKyTribune intern
Service. Devotion. Tradition.
These words describe the Eifert family from Latonia, who were recently honored by the naming of a street near Holy Cross High School.
“Eifert Family Way” runs parallel to Church Street between East Southern Avenue and the railroad tracks, behind Holy Cross Church and the Thomas B. Finn Activity Center.
The city named the bricked alley to recognize Paul Eifert Jr., Clay Eifert, Theresa Vietor, Connie Lenihan, Veronica Schweitzer and the late Susan Schlarman, who all have demonstrated a work ethic and devotion to the community.
Clay EIfert with the street sign
Their grandfather, Clay Eifert, who died in the line of duty as a Covington police officer in 1946, instilled this devotion. His son, Paul Eifert Sr., joined the Covington police force and served for 30 years. He and his wife Mary passed the tradition and sense of service to their children.
“My father served, and my mother raised us to respect the sacrifice. . . He was gone for many, many hours that he worked shifts,” Theresa Vietor said. “We would listen to the police radio during the race riots in the Sixties and the early Seventies to see if my father was hurt. We were raised to understand by both of our parents that the sacrifice was worthy.”
Veronica, Clay, and Susan all went into teaching; Clay and Susan taught at Holy Cross High School, the school many members of the family attended. Veronica is a principal and teacher at St. Anthony Elementary in Taylor Mill. Susan died in 1999 after being struck by a drunken driver near her home in Ft. Thomas.
Theresa has been a nurse at St. Elizabeth for many years and currently heads the forensics program there. Paul Jr. was a Covington police officer before his retirement, and Connie is a broker for Legg Mason in Cincinnati.
Clay, 53, taught at Holy Cross for 30 years, and served 12 years as principal and head basketball coach. He is a stage IV cancer patient, suffering from melanoma that has spread throughout his body.
At his retirement party on May 21, many alumni, friends and family – about 450 people – attended to support Clay and celebrate his career. Among them was Covington Mayor Sherry Carran.
Carran and Covington Commissioner Bill Wells had been notified of the family’s dedication to the city and Holy Cross by Willard Mays, a Holy Cross graduate of 1980. “I’m grateful that (Mays) brought it to our attention” (the service and dedication of Clay and his family). “The email was sent to Commissioner Bill Wells,” Mayor Carran said. “Then Bill emailed us and everybody was like, ‘Yeah, why didn’t we think of this ourselves?’”
Clay and his family were surprised by the honor that was announced at the retirement party.
“I had absolutely no idea that they were going to do it in renaming the street – the fact that the city took the time to do that and recognize the service of my family,” Clay said. “It was really, really meaningful not only to me but my brother and sisters because they were there.
“Also it’s in recognition of my grandfather, who had been killed in the line of duty, and my father. It’s been really humbling for me because I never thought I’d be in this position because I was always in the position of helping other people.”
The ceremony was originally to honor Clay and another former Holy Cross principal, Bill Goller, who was also retiring after 49 years at Holy Cross.
Though Clay wishes he was still teaching and involved with Holy Cross, he understands the situation and is overwhelmed with the support he’s been given, which he credits to the tight-knit community that is Holy Cross.
“It’s amazing right now with my illness how many letters and how many emails I’ve received. It’s just phenomenal. It’s just hundreds and hundreds, and I feel very humbled,” Clay said.
Despite his battle with cancer, Clay remains happy with the constant support from the Holy Cross community. He is grateful the system of supporting others, which he helped implement at Holy Cross, is working and paying dividends.
Some are amazed how Clay and his family remain so upbeat.
Paul Eifert Jr., Theresa Vietor, Connie Lenihan and Veronica with Clay Eifert
“His attitude’s always been positive, so you end up being positive and you think ‘you can beat this,’ then you find out just as he gets through one stage of it another stage pops up,” Mayor Carran said.
“Even at the retirement party he was still very, very upbeat and positive. He looked really good and looked like he was having so much fun. It kind of fools you because you think this isn’t going to happen to him. Lori, his wife, is pretty amazing too. I can’t even imagine how strong she has to be right now for Clay.”
For the Eifert family, especially Clay, a Holy Cross graduate of 1980, the statement of their late sister, Susan Schlarman, in the Holy Cross handbook is applicable: “Holy Cross High School is a place that demands everything you can give, and nothing less, and in return gives you undying loyalty and friendship.”
It’s clear through this statement that the mentality has been not only instilled into Holy Cross by the family, by both Clay and Susan and their siblings as well as to them by their parents, lifelong parishioners who took their family there.
“We always saw them value a Catholic education,” Theresa said. “My older brother Paul graduated from Xavier University and still joined the police department for many, many years. We were educated.”
Clay continued that legacy, according to Theresa, as he attempted to make a Catholic education available to all who wanted it.
So as Clay exemplified the Eifert family’s devotion and service to the community, the hope is that more will carry on Clay’s legacy in Latonia and Covington, as well as at Holy Cross, and continue to serve, just as the Eifert family has done for the past 70 plus years.
“I’m sure that Clay has touched a lot of people’s lives and hopefully all those people go on to make a difference just like Clay and his family has,” Carran said.
The 10th annual Luke Muller golf outing will honor Clay Eifert. It will be held August 20 at the Kenton County Golf Course. You can find more information about it online. (www.lmgo.org)
Evan Merrill is a journalism senior at the University of Kentucky. He is from Covington.
