The tenure of Sister Marguerite Torre, the beloved principal of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary School, came to a bittersweet close on Wednesday afternoon, over 50 years after she started her career as an educator in South Queens. Sister Torre served as the school’s principal for the last 26 years after teaching elementary and high schoolers in Catholic schools on Long Island, in Connecticut and Queens, including at Our Lady of Grace School in Howard Beach, where her teaching career started in 1954. She also taught for six-year and three-year periods at Nativity before becoming its principal. Of the hundreds of students she worked with in the decades past, Sister Torre said: “They made my life. It’s such a joy, to be with children.” Diocese and parish leaders decided that Sister Torre will not head Divine Mercy Catholic Academy, the school that will result from the formal merger of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary School and nearby St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr School next fall. Since the announcement in May, heartbroken alumni and parents of current Nativity students have flooded Sister Torre, a Brooklyn native, with well wishes and thanks. “She gave a lot of dedication to everyone. She knew everyone by name,” recalled Josephine Utairujimalkod, the mother of a Nativity second-grader. Other parents said that Sister Torre created an atmosphere that made them feel their children were safe when they left them at school in the mornings. “Nativity has always had a reputation for having a family environment,” said Sister Torre, noting that Sister Michael McKenna, one of her predecessors, headed the school for 65 years. Second-grader Jessica Keeney recalled that Sister Torre would hug her every morning. “She was very nice,” said Jessica, who gave Sister Torre a ceramic Precious Moments figurine as a thank you gift on Tuesday. “She made my son feel like he was the only student,” said parent Jennie Diaz, explaining that Sister Torre wrote special notes on her fifth-grader’s report cards, even when he did not receive stellar marks. Sister Torre said that she always tried to impart to her students that our purposes were to find our passions and pursue them, even if our talents lie not in the classroom. “I tried to let them realize that they are gifted, that God has given each of them so many special talents,” she said. “We all have a special work to do,” added Sister Torre, who watched with tears welling in her eyes her final graduating class receive their diplomas on Friday. In addition to the lessons she taught, she said that her students taught her unforgettable lessons about honesty and living in the moment. Sister Torre acknowledged that while she always learned from her students, much has changed since she first came to Ozone Park. The area and school once dominated by Italian-Americans now looks the United Nations, she said with a proud smile. But other changes presented challenges. Citing the movies, television and other elements of 21st century American culture that rush adulthood at children, she said: “There are no surprises anymore, and it’s a shame. They get distracted by all this nonsense.” She credits the talents and patience of her teachers and longtime administrative assistant, Mary Romanello, with helping her overcome these hurdles and remain an effective administrator. After she retires, Sister Torre hopes to complete the memoir she started in 1996. She plans to work for her brother, Yankees Manager Joe Torre’s Safe At Home Foundation, which helps domestic violence victims. She also envisions spending her time working with Hispanic Catholics and groups of Hispanic women, an urge she felt after she attended a Mass celebrated in Spanish that reminded her of her time studying in Spain and Puerto Rico decades ago. But beyond all else, Sister Torre said that she looks forward to resting. Upon hearing that, Diaz said: “She deserves it.”
