OBITUARY

Sister Helen Galvin

Posted

WILTON, CONN. — School Sister of Notre Dame Helen Galvin, 87, died January 28 at Lourdes Health Care Center.

She was born in Boston, Mass., the daughter of the late Timothy and Nora (Guerin) Galvin. In 1937, she entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Baltimore, Md. Two years later, she took the religious name Sister Mary Leopoldine, though she later returned to her baptismal name. In 1940, she took her first vows and began teaching at St. Jerome School, Baltimore, where she taught for three years before transferring to Immaculate Conception School, Malden, Mass.

Sister Galvin’s mother passed away in 1945, and she moved to Roxbury, Mass. to serve as primary caregiver to her sisters and their daughters for the next 25 years. She returned to formal religious life, and to the classroom, in 1970.

Sister Galvin taught at St. Anselm School, Brooklyn, N.Y. from 1970 to 1976, and transferred to Our Lady of Fatima School, Wilton, Conn., where she served from 1976 to 1977. She then ministered as an educator at Holy Name of Jesus School, Providence from 1977 to 1980, and then taught at Monsignor Clarke Regional School, Wakefield, from 1980 to 1987.

She later served as a teacher in Massachusetts, and after retiring from full-time ministry, worked as a teacher’s aide and substitute teacher. Sister Galvin moved to Villa Notre Dame, Wilton in 2002.

She is survived by nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated February 1 in the Chapel at Villa Notre Dame. Burial was in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Bethel, Conn.