Sister Helen Catherine Cassidy, OP, of the Dominican Sisters, Sparkill, New York, died on November 29, 2017 in Siena Hall, Sparkill, NY.
Born in Bronx, NY on November 1, 1922 Mary Elizabeth was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Fox Cassidy. She entered the Dominican Congregation of Our Lady of the Rosary in Sparkill on September 8, 1941 and received the name Sister Helen Catherine. She professed her first vows in 1943 and her final vows in 1948.
Sister Helen Catherine received her BA in Education, Manhattan College, Bronx, NY in 1951 and her MA in Business Education from Columbia University, NY in 1954.
Sister Helen Catherine taught in the Archdiocese of St. Louis at St. Mark’s School (1943-1946) then returned to NY to teach in the Brooklyn Diocese at St. Edmund’s School (1946-1951). From 1951-1971 Sr. Helen Catherine taught in Thorpe Secretarial School in the Archdiocese of New York. In 1971, she returned to Sparkill and for the next 35 years worked in the Office of Information Services for her congregation before retiring in 2006.
Sister Helen Catherine is predeceased by her parents William and Elizabeth Fox Cassidy and her brother Arthur. She is survived by three nephews Michael, Robert, and Patrick who live in California.
Sister Helen Catherine was a kind and compassionate person. She served her God and congregation faithfully for over seventy-six years as a Dominican Sister of Sparkill. We thank God for her life and her goodness and we pray she be brought swiftly into the fullness of joy in the presence of the God she loved and so faithfully served. We will miss her presence among us.