By Catholic Review Staff
A funeral Mass for School Sister of Notre Dame Mary Helena Murphy was offered Aug. 21 in the Chapel of Villa Assumpta in Baltimore. Sister Mary Helena, who taught in Baltimore schools for nearly 50 years, died of peripheral artery disease Aug. 14 at Maria Health Care Center in Baltimore. She was 97 and had been a professed member of the School Sisters for 65 years.
Born in Oella, Margaret Virginia Murphy was taught by School Sisters at St. Paul’s School in Ellicott City. After working for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company for seven years as an operator and service representative, she entered the School Sisters, professed her first vows in 1949 and her final vows in 1955.
Sister Mary Helena taught in New York, 1949-1956, and Washington, D.C., 1956-1961, before returning to Baltimore. She taught eighth grade at St. Matthew School in Northwood; 1961-66; was principal and junior-high teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas School in Hampden, 1966-1972; and taught sixth grade at Our Lady of Hope School in Dundalk, 1972-92. After retiring from teaching, she continued to offer community service as a volunteer at Our Lady of Hope/St. Luke School until 2010, when she retired to prayer and presence at Villa Assumpta. She moved to Maria Health Care Center in 2011.
Sister Mary Helena earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1958 from what is now Notre Dame of Maryland University and a master’s degree in education in 1967 from the College of St. Rose in Albany, New York.
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