MIAMI GARDENS | The celebration was bittersweet: For the first time in its 50-year history, the Marian Center School and Services marked an anniversary without the presence of its founder and driving force, Sister Lucia Ceccotti.

Sister Lucia, superior of the group of 11 Sisters of St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo who came from Italy to Miami to open and staff the Marian Center, died just a month shy of the Oct. 18 Mass for the center’s golden anniversary.

“This celebration is bittersweet because we miss Sister Lucia,” said Sister Lidia Valli, principal of the Marian Center School, which serves students ages 6 to 21 with developmental disabilities. “But we are committed to continuing this service.”

Indeed, there were cake and balloons, songs and a bell choir, a gift of yearbooks for the three sisters from the original group who still work at the school, and a beautiful Mass celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski � who was celebrating his own birthday.

There was also the characteristically pure joy and devotion of the Marian Center students as they served at the altar and received Communion. In addition to the school, the Marian Center offers an adult training and work program and a fulltime residential facility for women.

The students’ devotion matched the determination of their parents and benefactors to ensure that the Marian Center will continue to carry out its mission for the next 50 years.

Perhaps the best symbol of that determination were the 20 newly-planted royal palms that now flank the drive into the school grounds. They replace trees that were lost during Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

Cliff Gibson, treasurer of the Parent Teacher Association, found a donor for the palms and the association paid for their delivery and planting.

Toni Acocella, president of the PTA, noted that royal palms are not only the “most regal” among palm trees but also the strongest, because their roots grow deep into the earth while their trunks strive “to reach heaven.”

“They have been known to withstand some of the worst weather conditions and wicked storms,” Acocella said. “I don’t believe for a second that it is a coincidence that these royal palms came to us at this time. I think it was Divine Providence and a symbol for us to keep our feet firmly on the ground while we all stand proud; and together we will stay committed, weather the storm and work very hard for the Marian Center.”

Acocella’s daughter, Ashley, 23, enrolled at the Marian Center 10 years ago and is now in the work training program.

“I was very unhappy” when she was in the public school system, Acocella said, so she and her husband, who live in Broward, tried home-schooling for a while. But their daughter expressed a desire to attend school with other children.

Acocella had heard the Marian Center mentioned in some support groups, so she finally made an appointment to visit.

“We drove down. I got out of the car. And that was it,” she recalled.

Studying at the Marian Center has helped her daughter, who had behavioral issues, learn to conduct herself “as a young lady,” Acocella said. Ashley also has made dear friends, to the point that the Marian Center “literally is part of our family.”

“It’s a very fulfilling place for her. It’s not just a babysitting program,” Acocella said.

“It’s life-changing to be involved with the Marian Center. I feel not just love but unconditional love,” said Sean Clancy, president of the board of trustees, who got involved with the center 25 years ago.

“We are dealing with people who are vulnerable but here at the Marian Center we are giving them a beautiful life,” he said.

He and the other members of the board have created a fund, named after Sister Lucia, to make sure the Marian Center will be able to continue its work. The fund will raise money above and beyond what the center needs each year to offset its operating deficit.

Most of its students qualify for McKay scholarships but tuition alone does not cover the costs of their education � something that has been true for every one of the past 50 years. Throughout that time, an auxiliary group has conducted ongoing fundraisers to help the center stay afloat.

The Sister Lucia Ceccotti Memorial Fund was created to keep the Marian Center on a sound financial footing for years to come. It opened with a $10,000 donation.

“We’d like to build this into a seven-figure sum over time,” Clancy said. “We’ll use the money wisely as Sister Lucia always did.”

She was a persuasive fundraiser, Clancy added. “I’ve seen Don Shula. I saw her. The force of their personality was such that he really could will a win. She used Divine Providence but she too could do things by force of her personality. It was magnetic.”

“She led us so well for 50 years,” Acocella said. “It is time for us to show her how well she taught us.”