By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
RED BANK – For 37 years, students at Red Bank Catholic (RBC) benefited from the loving encouragement and tough teaching style of Sister Joanmarie McDonnell who retired in 2019. A member of the English department at the high school, she taught generations of students, making an impact on many lives.
McDonnell died last week at the age of 89 at McAuley Hall Health Care Center in Watchung.
“Although Sister Joanmarie had not been a regular presence at RBC in recent years, her memory lingered on in our hearts,” read a letter in part from faculty and administration of the school.
In addition to teaching English, McDonnell supported the school in myriad other ways, cheering on sports teams, attending arts events and leading clubs.
“Sister Joanmarie wasn’t a Casey in the typical sense. She didn’t graduate from Red Bank Catholic but she formed the Casey Spirit in those who walked through her door,” said RBC Principal Karen Falco this week. “Sister taught by example to work hard, take care of each other and those in need. Her expectations were high for all, both in and out of the classroom. Our community is better because she touched our hearts.”
McDonnell was born in South Amboy, the daughter of John and Helen McDonnell. Upon graduating from St. Mary’s High School in 1955, she entered the Sisters of Mercy in Watchung from St. Joseph Parish, Carteret.
She received her bachelor’s degree from Georgian Court College (now University) and a master’s from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Prior to teaching at RBC, McDonnell taught at Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung and St. Mary’s High School in Perth Amboy.
According to Sister Marge Scarpone, co-chair of RBC’s religion department, McDonnell’s father was a newspaperman and taught McDonnell the importance of journalism. “She kind of resurrected the school newspaper when she arrived here at Red Bank Catholic in September of 1982,” Scarpone said.
“She wanted to teach her students to be good communicators” and used the newspaper to that end, taking them on trips to see the printing process so they would learn about journalism from “the beginning – going out and getting the information – to the end where it was actually being printed,” Scarpone said. Under McDonnell’s leadership the paper won numerous awards, she said.
The outpouring of love for McDonnell was evident on social media, with hundreds of comments on posts by the school about her death. Most referenced her supportive and caring nature and effusive personality. Some noted her tough teaching style – possibly underappreciated while they were in her class – made them better writers to this day.
Sister Regina Callahan, a member of the guidance department at RBC, was friends with McDonnell for over 40 years. She shared a memory of McDonnell critiquing letters Callahan wrote to her while in graduate school in Philadelphia.
“She said, ‘This is not your best work,’ ” Callahan remembered with a laugh.
“She was demanding in terms of always telling the kids that they could do better,” she said, “but it was always with good intentions.”
It seems everything McDonnell did was with good intentions, epitomizing the Sisters of Mercy core values.
“There are probably many RBC graduates who can attest to (the fact) that Sister was an extraordinary teacher,” said RBC President Robert Abatemarco this week. “But she, along with Sister Regina, also worked tirelessly to call Caseys to work with food banks, local charities and helping expectant mothers.”
That included founding the L.I.F.E. (Living in Faith Effectively) Club, along with Callahan, which supports Lunch Break, St. Anthony’s food pantry, Project Paul and Mercy Center, among others. She helped raise thousands of dollars annually for the Red Bank CROP Hunger Walk and led countless food and clothing drives over the years.
“She was always doing what we refer to as the corporal works of mercy,” Callahan said, “to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to give drink to the thirsty,” in addition to spiritual works – praying for those who needed help.
“She was very, very much ‘others’ centered,” Callahan said. One year she wrote 125 letters of recommendation for students applying to college, she said.
McDonnell was also a “wonderful singer,” according to Scarpone: “A steady alto in the Sisters of Mercy choir.”
But she didn’t just sing liturgical music. “She liked folk tunes, show tunes,” Callahan said. “If the school was doing a play that she was familiar with, she would be singing those songs, too.”
McDonnell and Callahan also received the Monsignor Casey Award of Honor in 2020 in recognition of their diehard support for student-athletes.
In what Callahan called “her final contribution to society,” McDonnell donated her body to Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in the name of science, “so that others might benefit.”
“Even in life and in death she just wanted to contribute to society.”
Scarpone summed up McDonnell’s life by appropriately referencing the Gospel of Matthew:
“It’s almost like the message was written just for her,” Scarpone said. “It says in the Gospel of Matthew, ‘The gifts that you’ve been given, give them as gifts,’ and that’s exactly what she did.”
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the “Red Bank Catholic L.I.F.E. Club” or “Sisters of Mercy” by mail to Red Bank Catholic, c/o Sister Regina Callahan, 112 Broad St., Red Bank, NJ 07701.
The article originally appeared in the April 13 – 19, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
