Your Former Teachers
Dear Friends,
I received the message below after a notice about the website ran recently in
Newsday. I encourage you to spread the word, both about the possibility of a reunion
in Brentwood and the plight of the Sisters. Hopefully, some of you who have profited
over the years by your keen mastery of arithmetic can figure a way to rescue the ones who
taught it to us.
Peace,
Frank Fitzgerald
Thursday, 18 Mar 1999
My name is Peggy Foery Hamilton (class of Jan. 1956) and I am responding to the e-mail
to you by Robert Obach. As you all know by now, we lost Sr. Devota on March 10th. We had a
beautiful wake and funeral for her at Maria Regina Convent on the grounds of St. Joseph's
in Brentwood. I brought a copy of the web page re. SPB alumni with me and showed it to
many of your former teachers who are now residents of Maria Regina. I can't tell you how
excited they were to read of their former students, seeing pictures of the old school and
church, Msgr. Kinsella, reunion pictures, etc. They were asking me questions re. many of
you whom I do not even know. They wanted to know how to get online and how to get more
info on some of you. One of the younger sisters (not a resident) was Sr. Gertrude Haywood
who grew up in Hollis, attended SPB and became a sister of St. Joseph. Many of you may
know her family - five children. She will try to access the website but I promised to keep
them all informed and send copies of the webpage to the Convent. I would love to arrange
some sort of reunion at St. Joseph's with all of you and our former teachers and have us
all bring any mementos and pictures. I will look into arranging that if you would come.
The nuns would be so happy to see you again.
I thank you all for starting this contact - I have already spread the word to many
former students that I know. I would also love to contact some of my former classmates if
possible.
St. Joseph's is a beautiful place consisting of the Academy of St. Joseph, St. Joseph's
College and Marina Regina (a skilled nursing home for the sisters) and also Calvary
Cemetery where Sr. Devota and many of our teachers now rest. The other sisters are living
at Marina Regina. They are concerned about not being able to continue running Marina
Regina for lack of funds. They have recently applied to NYS for aid in the hopes of not
having to close. Please remember them in your charitable contributions so we can give a
little back to them. Let's be sure that we do our best to keep them together now as they
have been for most of their lives. They just want to be able to take care of each other as
they took care of us many years ago. Sr. Devota would have celebrated her 74th anniversary
as a Josephite this September and would have celebrated her 90th birthday this June 23rd.
Contributions may be made out in memory of Sr. Devota Maria to Srs. of St. Joseph and sent
to -
Maria Regina Convent
Att: Sr. Joan Hackett
Brentwood, NY 11717
I will continue to be in touch and to check our own SPB website.
Peggy Foery Hamilton
Email DannyHam@aol.com
Tell us what you have been doing
Contact classmates list
How to send in photos |