School Sister of Notre Dame Mary Elizabeth Ryan (formerly Sister Mary Leontia), who taught at Catholic schools in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Florida, died Jan. 21, 2012, at Lourdes Health Care Center in Wilton, Conn. She was 91.
Sister Ryan was born in Boston, Mass. She graduated from Mission Church High School in Boston in 1937 and entered the congregation later that summer. She made her first vows in July 1940.
Her first teaching assignment was at St. Joseph School in Manhattan (1940-46), and she went on to teach for six years at Holy Family School in Rochester (1946-54). After earning a bachelor’s degree in education in 1954 from Nazareth College in Pittsford, she was assigned to St. Peter School in Philadelphia, where she taught for 15 years (1954-69). In 1969 she was named principal of Visitation School in Miami, Fla., and served there for 12 years.
In 1981 she joined the faculty of St. Catherine of Siena School in Trumbull, Conn., where she remained for 20 years. Even after retiring from full-time teaching, she continued offering community service at St. Catherine of Siena. In 2001, she moved to Villa Notre Dame, a residence of retired sisters of the Atlantic-Midwest Province in Wilton, Conn.
Sister Ryan is survived by two sisters, Louise Ryan Lynch of South Yarmouth, Mass., and School Sister of Notre Dame Patricia Ryan of Wilton, Conn., and her sisters in the congregation.
Her Mass of Christian burial was held Jan. 27, 2012, at the chapel at Villa Notre Dame in Wilton. Burial was in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Bethel, Conn.
