ASTORIA — Herta Fuchs arrives at St. Joseph Catholic Academy in Astoria at 10 a.m. every day and gets to work — sorting through emails, inputting student data into her computer, creating spreadsheets on alumni activities, and drafting “Thank You” letters to the school’s donors. And that’s just before lunch. 

Quite the feat for a 94-year-old. 

While Fuchs has volunteered at the academy for 19 years, her association with St. Joseph’s dates back more than 80 years. She is a graduate of the school (Class of 1944) and has such fond memories of her time there that she wanted to give back by helping out in the main office.

“I love it here!” Fuchs said recently, as she sat at her work station outside of Principal Lucy Alaimo’s first-floor office.

“We are so fortunate to have her. She works really hard and she’s so knowledgeable, and she has such a positive attitude,” Alaimo said. “She really inspires everyone here.”

When Fuchs enrolled there in 1942, the academy was called St. Joseph’s School. She enrolled beginning in the seventh grade after previously attending public school. 

Fuchs’ parents, Johann and Anna, were German immigrants who settled in Astoria in 1937. At the time, the neighborhood was predominantly Catholic and populated by German, Italian, and Irish immigrants. 

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Fuchs said her parents enrolled her in St. Joseph’s, which at the time was difficult to get into, because they wanted her to have a Catholic education. 

“I wanted to come here for the longest time, but I couldn’t. There were so many kids, there was a waiting list to get in,” Fuchs recalled, adding that her parents were relieved when she made it to the top of the waiting list.

Johann and Anna Fuchs were married at St. Joseph Church in 1925, and Herta, who was born in November 1930, has been a parishioner there her entire life.

Fuchs and her St. Joseph’s classmates were taught by the Sisters of St. Dominic of Amityville, a religious congregation of nuns who she described as strict but caring. 

“I was no saint,” she said with a laugh. “My parents were called up to the school one time because my friends and I were throwing spitballs in class.”

Students were required to attend Mass and receive Communion — both of which were marked on report cards — every Sunday.

After graduating from St. Joseph’s in 1944, Fuchs moved on to Cathedral High School in Manhattan. While in high school, she got a part-time job working at Aetna Life Insurance Company. Then, after graduating from high school, she went on to work at Equitable Life Insurance.  

“Most of us didn’t go to college back then, unless you wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer,” she noted. 

Fuchs started in the mailroom but took night classes to learn about areas like pensions and underwriting. She was ultimately moved over to the pension department, and the company eventually sent her around the country to speak at seminars for insurance agents. 

Fuchs eventually took classes at Fordham University and earned a bachelor’s in English. She also holds two master’s degrees in management and financial services.

By the time she retired from her insurance job at the age of 57, she was an assistant vice president. 

“I feel like everything good that has happened to me in my career is because of St. Joseph’s,” she said. “It was a solid foundation for me.”

Not one to take it easy in retirement, Fuchs, who never married and has no children, decided to volunteer. She worked in the rectory of St. Joseph Church before moving over to the school 19 years ago.

She likes to stay active, walking to work every day, rain or shine. 

“I like to walk,” Fuchs said. “It keeps you young.”