Obituaries

Thank you to Pamela Silvestri for the Beautiful Words about Sister William

Sister Mary William passed away peacefully surrounded by her Sisters at St. Joseph Hill convent on Holy Thursday April 6, 2023.

She was born Mary Margaret McGovern in then- Richmond Memorial Hospital on April 16, 1937.  She lived in Great Kills and attended St. Clare School for elementary grades and graduated from St. Joseph Hill Academy High School.

Sister entered the novitiate of the Daughters of Divine Charity on August 15, 1955, taking the name Sister Mary William.  She graduated from Fordham University with both Bachelors and Masters degrees in English.

Her first teaching assignment in 1958 was in St. Joseph Hill Academy High School.  Over the years, she taught French, British Literature, and Advanced Placement English, served as faculty advisor of the school newspaper, the yearbook and Student Council.  In 1966, she was asked to establish a Guidance Department at the Academy and served as its first director.

In 1971 she became the Provincial Secretary of St. Joseph Province, a post she held for six years.  Following that she retuned to St. Joseph Hill Academy where she continued teaching English as well as instituting a course in journalism.

She served on the Provincial Council of the Congregation for eight years, then served as the Provincial.  Over the years she was chosen six times to represent the Sisters at their international General Chapter, held every six years at the Congregation’s Generalate, first in Vienna and then in Rome.

In 1996 after completing her first term as Provincial, she became the co-director of Development for the Province, with the responsibility of raising funds to support the elderly and infirm Sisters.  During this time, she moderated the Daughters of Divine Charity Associate Program in the United States, taking it from a membership of one to being a wide-ranging group in all areas of the country where the Sisters served. In 2008, she was again named Provincial of St. Joseph Province.  In 2012, when St. Joseph Province, based at St. Joseph Hill on Staten Island, joined with two other Provinces of the Congregation – one based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and one in Akron, Ohio-she was chosen to be the first Provincial Superior of the newly formed Holy Family Province, based at St. Joseph Hill convent.

After overseeing the construction of a new convent for the Sisters at St. Joseph Hill, who had been living in a retrofitted school building, she was faced with the challenge of rebuilding the original convent building, which the Sisters had acquired in 1919 and which had been heavily damaged by an arson fire in 2013.  During the course of the renovations, she oversaw the opening of St. Joseph Retreat Center.  When her term as Provincial expired, she became President of St. Joseph Hill Academy.  She served on the board of St. Joseph Hill Academy and continued working in the Development Office of the Daughters of Divine Charity.

She was predeceased by her father, William A. McGovern, her mother, Marie McGovern her brother William A. McGovern, M.D. and her nephew William McGovern.  She is survived by her niece, Laura McGovern Olszewski, her grandniece, Sarah and her grandnephew, Christian, as well as her all her Sisters in Holy Family Province.

Schedule of Services:

Wednesday, April 12th 2 pm – 8 pm
Visitation, St. Joseph Hill Convent

Thursday, April 13th 10 am
Mass of Christian Burial, St. Joseph Hill Convent
Interment, Resurrection Cemetery, Staten Island, NY
Repast, St. Joseph Hill Convent

Biography

Sister Mary Martin, F. D. C. (Dorothy Eva Kosik)

Born February 27, 1931 South Bend, IN
Died December 25, 2013 Staten Island, NY

Dorothy Kosik was born to Aloysius and Clara Kosik. Dorothy was the youngest of four siblings. When she got to know the Daughters of Divine Charity at her home parish of St. Stephen’s in South Bend, she had a dream to one day be a sister. So she left South Bend for Staten Island where, after completing the necessary processes of early religious life, she was given the name Sister Mary Martin, F.D.C. After professing her vows, she eventually earned her Bachelors Degree in education from DePaul University in Chicago.

 

Sister Martin began teaching in Trenton, NJ at St. Stephen’s School in the early fifties. Over the years she taught Kindergarten through 4th Grade in New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. She also taught religion to many students in CCD Programs throughout many of the same states. She loved her students and the people in the parishes she got to know over the years. She always tried to get to know her students and their needs. She was also the Superior at Corpus Christi Convent in South Bend later in her life.

 

Twice during her religious life she was stationed at St. Mary’s Residence in Detroit, MI where she helped care for the residents there. She was a delegate to the Congregation’s General Chapter in Rome and a representative of the Formation Team of her Province at an International Formation Meeting in Rome, where she had an audience with Pope John Paul II.

 

Finally in February of 2011 she moved back to Staten Island and was a member of the community at St. Joseph Hill Convent until her death. The Sisters loved having her there as she was a positive influence to the Community. Sister Martin enjoyed life, was fun loving and liked to knit and to do puzzles. Sister often expressed her happiness as a Daughter of Divine Charity, and died surrounded by the sisters she loved.

 

Sister Martin is survived by her three siblings, Genevieve (Jean) Beitler of South Bend, John Kosik, also of South Bend, and Helen O’Loughlin, of Sacramento, California. She is also remembered by many loving nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family, and the countless people whose lives were made better for having her in them.

 

God Bless you, Sister. Rest in the peace of Our Lord.

Anna Levay was born into the large family of Rosalie Broun and Joseph Levay, with love among the parents and many children. This happy home life came to an end when her mother died after a short illness and five year old Anna was sent to her Aunt Julia, who raised her with her own children in Detroit, Michigan. She was also a cheerful child who adopted a little chicken, nursing its broken leg. Her early religious life was divided between Sunday Mass in the Catholic Church and in afternoon services in the protestant church of Aunt Julia.

In elementary school she attended Holy Cross School in Detroit and then to St. Joseph Hill Academy on Staten Island, New York. She attended College and studied early childhood education at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey.

Sister Sebastian taught in schools in Staten Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey and in California. This writer remembers her best there when the parish built a kindergarten in the convent to accommodate her class in St. Therese School in San Diego. She was always calm and achieved discipline by the slightest change in her look and tone of voice. The children loved the teacher who was not much taller than they and often, behind her back they would jump up and take comparison measurements. She was able to accompany the songs of the children with her own talent on the piano and voice and gestures that brought the songs to life. At one point in her life she had two parakeets and made sure that she played radio music for them too. She was conscious of spreading happiness in many ways.

During her golden jubilee year she had a chance to go to Rome and here, God granted her some wishes in an almost miraculous way. Upon arrival, she announced that it was her dearest wish to see Sister Leonore Mohl whom she remembered from her early formation. It was explained that Vienna was much too far away from Rome. Along with her fellow Sisters, she attended a pilgrims’ Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and white going out by a side door literally “bumped into” Sister Leonore who had also attended that Mass.

The other wish was to make an urgent request of the Holy Father. Again, we explained that the most she could hope from an audience was to see a white dot at the front of thousands of people. She was disappointed but God had another surprise in store for his faithful handmaid. Some days later there was a smaller celebration at which she could get close enough to whisper into his ear. Let us leave the content of that whisper to the angels, but someone must be treasuring a wonderful photograph.

In the last months of her life it was difficult for Sister to respond and to eat. Many took the effort to coax a weak smile and to have her drink some nourishment. It was decided that she would be placed for rehabilitation so that her muscles would remain functional. In the afternoon, the sisters who visited her at Carmel Richmond Nursing Home remarked about her alertness and the sister who gave her a rosary said she wound it around her hand with a smile. She nodded in the affirmative when asked if she wanted to meet Jesus. In the evening we received a call that she was taken to the hospital because of seizures. When the sisters arrived at the hospital the doctor was waiting for permission to stop all extraordinary means to revive her, saying she would never recover consciousness in any case. His beloved little sister had already slipped peacefully into the arms of Jesus.

May she rest in peace and pray for us.

Sister M. Caroline Bachmann, F.D.C., was born in Manhattan, New York City.  She grew up in Bachmann’s Delicatessen on Staten Island and attended Public School 12 and CCD instructions at her local parish, St. Sylvester’s.  She  attended St. Joseph Hill Academy high school, where she met the Daughters of Divine Charity.

Hers was not an easy childhood.  Her mother died when she was six years old, and Sister Caroline really never knew what it was to have a loving mother as a confidant and to have a cozy home as a safe haven when she returned from school each afternoon.

After graduating from St. Joseph Hill Academy, she entered the Congregation and took the name Sister M. Caroline.

She loved the simplicity and good humor of the Sisters who taught her and, after finding out that the foundress of the Daughters of Divine Charity was born in the same district as her own father, she felt a sure call to a religious vocation to that same Congregation.     She made her   first vows on Aug. 15, 1956    and her final  vows on Aug 28, 1961, in the Motherhouse chapel in Vienna.

The vow of obedience became the key to a wonderful life of adventure and travel getting to live in different countries and meet Sisters from all over the world.  She liked to put these adventures into stories that she would share with anyone who would listen.  She often illustrated written tales with her own paintings and photographs.

Sister taught in elementary schools in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California, as well as at Aquinas High School in California.  She served as Director of Religious Education in several parishes in California and New Jersey and was a residential aide at Franziska Residence, a shelter for homeless mothers with children.

Sister Caroline was the Moderator of the New Jersey branch of the Divine Charity
Associates and the members looked forward to her spirituality sessions with them.  She also served as a pastoral minister at the local parish and was involved in running a prayer group, doing religious education with mentally challenged or handicapped children, and working with the Cursillo movement.

Sister Caroline was a member of the General Council of the Congregation for twelve years.  She was a dedicated religious and had a deep love for our Congregation.  She was always willing to use her talents to further our charism of spreading God’s love to all.  Her spirituality was deep and she wrote in her journal only the day before she suffered the stroke that ended her life,

“All are welcome in His house.  I will focus on the eternal shore and throw my anchor there.”

Her wake and funeral were attended by many people who had a deep appreciation for her work.  After her death, we heard many stories of the spiritual good that she did for all those she

met and worked with as well as the joy that her presence brought to the lives of those to whom she ministered.

Sister Caroline was deeply imbued with the spirit of Mother Franziska Lechner.  She was a prolific writer and gifted artist and often surprised the Sisters on special feast days with holy cards she had made pertaining to some aspect of the spirituality of the Congregation.  Her spirit will live on in the hearts and minds of all whose lives she so deeply affected.

Born and raised Rosalie Elizabeth Bartus in Roebling, N.J., she entered the religious order in 1942, took her first vow in 1944, and final vows in 1951.
Sister Raimonde earned an associate degree in business from Rider University in New Jersey, and a bachelor’s summa cum laude in education, and a master’s and Ph.D. in history, from Fordham University.

Assigned to education ministry in Connecticut, Ohio, New Jersey, and New York, she served on the faculty of St. Joseph Hill Academy High School from 1956 to 1984, and chaired the social studies department.

She worked as an archivist for her religious order from 1984 to 1985 in Vienna, Austria, and taught at Xaverian High School in Brooklyn from 1985 to 1986.
Sister Raimonde returned to St. Joseph Hill in 1986, teaching history, sociology, and speech, until her retirement three years ago. She was moderator and producer-director for the school’s drama club for 25 years, and forensic coach for two decades. She also initiated the Advanced Placement program at Hill, and was instrumental in developing the St. John’s University Extension Program at the school.

Her long career included posts as adjunct professor at Seton Hall University, from 1968 to 1971, and lecturer at Wagner College from 1969 to 1973. She also served part-time in the Office of the Archdiocesan Superintendent, and the Office of the Secretary of Education for the Archdiocese of New York, and was liaison for Catholic schools in the Archdiocese for the Bicentennial Scholars.

Sister Raimonde “had a great love for our Order, and was devoted to the charism of our foundress, Mother Franziska Lechner,” said Sister Denise Martin, the superior at St. Joseph Hill convent.

“She was a brilliant woman who could answer any questions you could ask her,” added Sister Josita DiVita, a friend for almost 60 years. “She was a delight to be with, and a very good friend.”

“Most of all, she really loved God,” said Mary Jane Truckenbrodt, a colleague at St. Joseph Hill since 1974. “She was a very honest person, and anything she said, you knew was true. She was a professional historian, very accurate and precise, and always saw things from an historical point of view.

“She would get things out of her students that they never knew they had,” she added. “She coached Stephanie Seminara, who was the first girl to win the National Forensic League and Catholic Forensic League championships in competition with boys.”

Sister Raimonde was an avid reader, favoring mysteries and historical literature, and enjoyed crossword puzzles, including the challenge of those in the New York Times Sunday magazine. She also traveled to the Light Opera of Manhattan every Friday evening, where she served as an usher, colleagues said.

She was cited as Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the National Catholic Educational Association, and was inducted into the National Forensic League and New York Catholic Forensic League halls of fame. She received the Patrick Daly Award from the then borough president Guy Molinari for her work as an educator.

Sister M. Ernestine Jeck, F.D.C. was called home to God on May 21, 2012. Born Josephine on October 16, 1916 in Manhattan, to Peter and Madelen Jeck. She was the youngest of three children. When she was just a baby her father died in a tragic accident and her mother needed child care for her little one. A friend told her that the Sisters who operate St. Mary’s Residence on 72 St. were opening a boarding school on what was then very rural Staten Island.

In 1934, drawn by the example of the Sisters who educated her and helped her mother raise her, Josephine entered the novitiate of the Daughters of Divine Charity and took the name Sister Mary Ernestine.

Her first teaching assignment after religious profession was in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Subsequently she taught in several schools in the East and Midwest. In 1952, she returned to her home on Staten Island, St. Joseph Hill Academy.

Today, there are many women who have happy memories of Sister Ernestine as their third grade or fourth grade teacher. Those who experienced her kindness in their early years were happy when Sister was assigned to the high school faculty as a religious studies teacher and the librarian in 1958.

During her entire career, her primary objective was to teach her students about God’s love for them and to foster a personal relationship with Jesus.

Anyone who knew Sister Ernestine either as a teacher, librarian or friend could always count on her to a smile and a kind word.

We hope that Sister Ernestine’s smile is now glowing with the sight of the Lord whole loved her throughout her long life and that she will be present to us with her prayers as we try to be, like her, messengers of God’s abiding love and care. All of us, Sisters, family and friends, thank God for the gift of the life of this lovely Sister!