Teachers

Listed are Boys and Girls’ teachers from our 1964 Yearbook photos. Add Comments or Contact Eddie or Judy if you have further information.

  • Brother Christopher, died January 26, 2015, age 82
  • Brother Cyril, died May 27, 1990, age 75
  • Brother Daniel, died July 30, 2008, age 74
  • Brother Jerome
  • Brother Leo, died October 8, 1973, age 61
  • Brother Terrance, died April 14, 2013, age 72
  • Brother Thomas
  • Mr. Edward McLaughlin
  • Sister Ursula Marie, died October 17, 2013, age 91
  • Sister Germaine Loiselle , died July 6, 2020, age 98
  • Miss Ellen Carroll (Ellen Guiney), living in Boston (see letter attached)
  • Sister Maguerite Therese, died September 27, 1981
  • Sister Denise (left SND order)
  • Sister Patricia Marian (left SND order)
  • Sister Joseph Dolores (Barbara Metz), living in Ipswich
  • Sister Marian Louise, died July 10, 1983

September 16, 2016

Dear St Mary’s graduates,

Thank you for including me in this marking of a milestone in your lives.  I regret that I did not receive your invitation in time to arrange to join you.  I am, however, delighted to send you greetings.

As I think back to September 1962, two ideas come back.  First, that I, at the seasoned age of 23, thought I had so much wisdom to impart but simultaneously had absolutely no idea of how to teach.  Second, from my first day, I was immediately struck by what I viewed as your narrow worlds, knowing only Waltham and St. Mary’s with a rare trip to Boston to view the lights on the Common or to visit Old North Church.  I decided part of my job was to broaden the context of what we were studying, and I set out to do so, particularly through what we read together, discussing sometimes flat texts until they had great meaning.

In retrospect, I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and now realize how lucky I was that you so enthusiastically embraced the quest. You made me a good teacher.  I like to think my young attempts meant as much to you as they did to me.  The joy of teaching comes from the knowledge that students as you were grow to adults who passed along the love of the quest to all the youngsters they themselves touched later on.

A word about the nuns and the Monsignor of St. Mary’s.  Though some of what we studied together now seems utterly tame, I still marvel that they gave me such a free hand and so much support.

And my husband, Tim, to whom I have been married for fifty-two years, reminded me this morning that maybe you were not as unsophisticated as I thought you were; one of your many gifts to me when I got married was a deck of cards “in case you get bored on your honeymoon.”

There is a line in Tennyson’s “Ulysses” that “I am a part of all that I have met.” All of you have certainly been an important part of my life.

Ellen Carroll Guiney

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3 comments so far ― Add yours!

  1. Joan Lupo Batista

    Gosh, we loved Miss Carroll! A refreshing change! So sophisticated to us who had been together since K! I went on to become an English major and a book editor. Although for a Catholic Religious Ed company. Miss Carroll sparked a love of American Lit that stayed with me forever. Joan Lupo Batista

  2. Arlene Lynch

    Reading this letter from Ms. Guiney reminds me of all I liked about her.
    I recall an interesting class discussion related to judging others based on how they look. I didn’t think a person’s appearance should effect how they are treated….. I may have been naive or idealistic. I learned that we do make an impression by our appearance… and how we look can impact how we are treated by others.

  3. Cheryl { Duprez } Monahan class of 1965

    a refreshing change and so young! We were in awe and i think the Nuns were as well.It was so nice letting us do things differently..like move our desks in groups, have debates in history, and not being taught reading out of a book page by page. these were new and we felt more free and we liked it. Liked being picked to get your lunch at Peggy”s so we could smoke while they made it. And having your shower when you were getting married…the Nuns thought it was great. They let us have it at the Hall at night. You were a great teacher and brought us out of our shell.