Corinne Conry of Rapid City had her eye on an antique piano for $125 and her mind on childhood memories during the St. Martin Monastery moving sale Saturday.

"I went to a Catholic grade school in Montana, so this brings me back to my childhood," Conry said of the Benedictine monastery and former Catholic high school at the edge of Rapid City.

Conry and her mother, Regina Greany, were among hundreds of shoppers who snapped up rummage and memories as the Benedictine community of 30 mostly elderly nuns prepares to downsize to a smaller home next door by spring.

"The first one was here at 7:30 this morning," Sister Therese Marie said of the shoppers, as she watched tables full of glassware, antique dishes, silver-plate and china quickly disappear from the monastery's dining hall shortly after the doors opened at 9 a.m. "It's a wonderful turnout."

Antiques hunter Beth Pillen of Rapid City was thrilled to find a small, green Depression glass plate for $4. "That's a bargain. My daughter collects this pattern," Pillen said. She also picked up a teapot, an antique aluminum tray and a metal suitcase like the kind she remembers using to carry ice skates as a child.

Anna Marie Thatcher of Rapid City perused a large assortment of steamer trunks, many of which crossed the Atlantic when the monastery's founding members arrived in Sturgis from Switzerland in the late 1800s. The old trunks were a big draw for many shoppers Saturday.

"Just a lot of memories," Thatcher said when asked if she'd found a trunk to buy.

Mike and Bob Demersseman came to the sale in search of some of the raised doughnuts they remembered fondly from their days as schoolboys at the old St. Martin school when it was located in Sturgis. Mike Demersseman recalled his days as a "boarder boy" at the school when his family lived in Rapid City. The brothers didn't find any doughnuts, but there were jams, jellies, cookies and other baked goods, including rhubarb pies, for sale.

Sister Jane Frances was enjoying her own memories Saturday as she greeted people who came for the sale.

"I've seen some of my former students here for the sale who I haven't seen since their nursing school days," said the nun and nurse who spent 33 years as a nursing instructor and supervisor of pediatrics at St. John McNamara Hospital in Rapid City, one of several western South Dakota Catholic hospitals the sisters owned.

Sale day was a happy one for the community, Sister Jane Frances said. She is looking forward to the new monastery, a smaller home that will be a better fit for the diminishing community, she said. "No, it's not sad. It's a good thing. We're kind of spread out here." The new monastery is expected to be completed by April.

For many of the shoppers, it was their first trip to the monastery grounds, and they were enjoying tours of the 150,000-square foot monastery and its chapel.

"We've never been out here before. It's beautiful," Conry said.

The buildings and half of the monastery's land have been sold to the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City, which will operate a school and retreat center in it. The community also sold 200 acres to the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, which plans to build a senior housing community on the site.