Bishop Vincent Waters decided to integrate the school in 1953, a year before the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to outlaw segregation in public schools. While school boards and governors dragged their feet for 15 years before substantially integrating, Waters did it quickly and effectively. Leadership matters.

That was a proud moment for the school, of which I am a graduate. At a dinner last Saturday to honor the school, the 400 people attending applauded when the school's integration was mentioned during a video presentation. One of the pioneering black students recently said, "I thought it was just part of being a Catholic."

Me too. When I arrived 20 years later, I was oblivious to Gibbons' history. Marlon Williams, who is black and was a top student in our class, went to Notre Dame and UNC law school. I didn't know Waters had cleared the way for Williams to get the opportunities he deserved and earned.

But that didn't mean I didn't recognize effective leadership with a religious bent. I saw it every day for four years in the nuns who ran the school. In the 1970s, the Sisters of Notre Dame, based in Chardon, Ohio, took responsibility for Gibbons. Five nuns lived in a convent near the school. One served as principal, and the others taught.

Raleigh was different then. The first wave of newcomers was just arriving. Only about 1 percent of North Carolinians were Catholic. I doubt any of the nuns wanted to move here. Most were from the Midwest. They were far from their families and must have been lonely.

If they were, they hid it well. They put all of their energy into teaching us. The stereotype of nuns was that they were mean, harsh disciplinarians. But I never saw that. We knew they were strong women who could more than hold their own with us. No need to push it too far.

Mostly what I remember is that they cared about us and were determined to educate us and do so in a way that put God first. They spent their lives in service to their faith and their students. You couldn't have found better role models than these selfless women.

Unexpectedly, I became friends my senior year with one of them, Sister Melannie Svoboda, my English teacher. I admired her. She was a great writer (and has written nine books). She was smart, funny, wise. She was passionate about her work and lived with great energy and enthusiasm. Without being sanctimonious, she always tried to do the right thing.

These qualities made her a great leader. Eventually, she became the provincial superior, the top nun for the Sisters of Notre Dame. For 30 years, she has been my friend and pen pal. I have saved every letter she has ever written me -- a whole box full.

To me, what made Gibbons special was the dedication of Sister Melannie and each of the nuns. Their leadership didn't come from the kind of bold gesture Bishop Waters made when he integrated the school in 1954. But their humble model of servant leadership was effective. Every day, they lived their faith in hopes it would rub off on us.

It did.

john.drescher@newsobserver.com