February 17, 1914 – October 4, 2019

Sister Mary McCloskey, OSU, died peacefully Oct. 4, 2019, at Our Lady of Wisdom Healthcare Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was 105.

The daughter of Joseph McCloskey and Zita Gogarty McCloskey, she was born Dorothy Catherine McCloskey Feb. 17, 1914, in New Orleans. She graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, after which she attended the Ursuline College and earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Loyola University. She later earned a master’s degree in English from St. Louis University and did further studies in theology at Incarnate Word University in San Antonio.

Sister Marie taught with the Ursuline Sisters for two years before entering the order in July 1938 and professing her vows in January 1941. She spent the next 40 years teaching at Ursuline schools in New Rochelle, New York; Galveston, San Antonio and Laredo, Texas; Decatur and Alton, Illinois; and New Orleans.

Throughout her years of ministry, she served in many leadership roles, including as headmistress, principal, or prioress of her local Ursuline community. Her final assignment before returning to her native New Orleans was assisting at Villa Maria Retreat and Conference Center in Frontenac, Minnesota.

A funeral Mass was celebrated Oct. 11 at the National Votive Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor in New Orleans.