Sister Marguerite fondly remembered

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

    WORCESTER – Ask people about Sister Marguerite Timothy Young and you get warm responses and high praise for the longtime educator, mentor and friend.
    The Sister of Notre Dame de Namur had been an associate superintendent in the diocesan Catholic Schools Office since July 2001 and principal of Julie Country Day School in Leominster before that.
    She died Tuesday, July 24, at the Notre Dame Long Term Care Center at the age of 86.
     Her funeral Mass is at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the chapel at Notre Dame du Lac Assisted Living, 555 Plantation St. A prayer service is being held there at 1:30 p.m. and a calling hour at 2:30 p.m. Burial is to follow at Notre Dame du Lac Cemetery, on the property.
    “They’ll have to expand the walls of the chapel for all the people who loved her,” commented Meg Kursonis, headmaster of St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary School.
    She said she and Sister Patricia Murphy, a Sister of St. Joseph, went to visit Sister Marguerite Tuesday, and learned she’d just died.
    “There were calls coming in from all over the country,” as word of Sister Marguerite’s death spread fast, Mrs. Kursonis said.
    “There wasn’t a finer mentor anywhere for the schools and the principals,” she said. “My life is filled with grace for having known her.”
    Sister Patricia said she met Sister Marguerite when they were both principals, and they were friends for more than 30 years.
    “She was so dedicated to Catholic education,” Sister Patricia said. “That was her ministry and her life.” She called Sister Marguerite “such an example for all of us.”
    Sister Marguerite was a leader among students, teachers and principals, said David Perda, the diocese’s superintendent of schools. And, she was a big help to him as a first-time superintendent, who started the job last summer.
    “I hit it off with her right away,” he said. “We became good friends and colleagues. There wasn’t a decision I made in that first year that I didn’t run by her.”
    When he and William J. Mulford, associate superintendent for business, visited her July 18 at Notre Dame du Lac “she apologized for leaving me in the lurch,” he said. “She showed wittiness and humor. She wanted to get caught up on … the work of the office.”
    He said she’d been in and out of work because of health issues, was last in the office a few weeks ago, and was hoping to return.
    He saw her broader reach at National Catholic Educational Association conventions.
    “The enjoyment she got out of bringing her skills and her experience and her perspective to a national level,” he said. “The people that she knew would come up to her and give her a hug” and share information. “She knew all the players from around the country.”

    Deborah O’Neil, principal of St. Bernadette Elementary School in Northborough, also attended these conventions with her. She said Sister Marguerite was sought out and honored, but never put herself out for recognition.
    “She received it because she deserved it,” Mrs. O’Neil said. “She really personified that selflessness of a Sister and a Catholic educator. Everybody respected her because she was genuine. That commitment came from her heart and it came from her faith.”
    She said Sister Marguerite’s death is “a loss to all of us” and that “she knew how to be there for everyone.”
    “She was the main resource for all the elementary schools in the diocese,” Mr. Mulford said, and was also active in the New England Chief Administrators of Catholic Education organization.
    Sister Sandra Napier, a retired Sister of Notre Dame de Namur living at Notre Dame du Lac, was assistant principal at Julie Country Day School in Leominster for several years when Sister Marguerite was principal.
    “Everybody loved her,” though students knew they were in trouble “when she had that face,” Sister Sandra said. “But everybody was treated equally.”
    On Principals’ Day students roasted Sister Marguerite.
    “She’d be purple, but she took it in good stride,” Sister Sandra said.
    She said school photographers donated a portrait of Sister Marguerite after she left and the kneeler where students said their penances after confession happened to be placed by it. One girl was so excited she got to say her penance “in front of Sister Marguerite.”
    “She united the North Worcester County principals,” Sister Sandra said, recalling another good fruit of Sister Marguerite’s labors. “So, when it came time to form the St. Paul Consortium, they were already together as a group.” (The consortium supports Catholic schools in northern Worcester County.)
     Sister Marguerite was born in Woburn, daughter of Timothy E. and Anna B. (Foley) Young. She entered the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1950 and made her final vows in 1958.  
    She was a graduate of St. Charles High School in Woburn, and Emmanuel College in Boston, where she majored in history. She later earned a master’s degree in business education from Boston University and did post-graduate studies at Boston College, the University of Notre Dame and Fitchburg State College.
     After 21 years of teaching at Notre Dame-staffed schools in the greater Boston area, Sister Marguerite was appointed principal of Julie Country Day, which she led for 27 years before being named associate superintendent of schools for the diocese.
    Sister Marguerite was predeceased by her brother, James H. Young, and her sister, Margaret Breene. She leaves a sister-in-law, Elaine Young of Woburn, a cousin, Bernard Daly of Andover, many nieces and nephews, and her sisters in religion, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
     Athy Memorial Home is directing the funeral arrangements. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Sisters of Notre Dame, 30 Jeffreys Neck Road, Ipswich, MA 01938.