Obituary of Sr. Mary Theresa McCarthy

Sister Mary-Theresa McCarthy, 89 ( former Sister Mary Aidan), died peacefully on Wednesday, August 17, 2016, at McAuley Hall Health Care Center in Watchung. The eldest of Charles and Winifred McCarthy's four children, she was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and attended the Watchung School and St. Joseph elementary school, N. Plainfield, NJ before attending high school at Mount St. Mary Academy in N. Plainfield. She entered the Sisters of Mercy following her graduation in 1945 and received the name Sister Mary Aidan the following year. She began her undergraduate studies at Georgian Court College, now University, in Lakewood and then at Fordham University in New York City. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in French, she continued her studies at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, as a Rector's Scholar and graduated cum laude in 1966. Sister's first teaching assignments began at St. Mary School in South Amboy and continued at St. Mary School in Trenton, St. Matthew School in Edison and Holy Spirit High School in Atlantic City. By 1959, and already immersed in advanced studies at Laval, she was assigned as an instructor at her alma mater, Georgian Court College. One year later, she attended the University of Paris as a Fulbright Scholar and, on her return, completed her doctorate in French at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Now a full professor at Georgian Court, she also served as a reader of Advanced Placement French Language tests at Educational Testing Services in Princeton where she wrote test items for the CLEP and College Board Achievement tests in French. She was an associate of the Danforth Foundation, a senior language consultant for the Rassias Foundation and a consultant to the New Jersey Committee for the Humanities. In 1975 she was a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at the University of Chicago and in 1979 at Princeton University. She was awarded the Gilbert Chinard Scholarship in Avignon, France, and grants from the Exxon Education Foundation to study intensive language teaching under John Rassias at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and at the University of Pennsylvania. If that were not enough, she found time to write and publish poetry, translations of various books. and an introduction to other writers' work. She took the color photograph of the George Jay Gould mansion in Lakewood, New Jersey that appears on the dust jacket cover of Dennis E. Rhodes' book, Historic Houses of New Jersey. She was often a speaker at academic conferences in the United States and abroad and held memberships in many associations and honor societies. Quiet and reserved by nature, one did not learn of her many achievements from Mary Theresa. She would more likely tell you about her beloved Irish heritage, her wonderful Irish family, their visits to the "old sod" and her pride that nation's emergence as a favorite destination for travelers. Foremost throughout her life was her dedication to God and her vocation as a Sister of Mercy, whatever her role and wherever her travels took her. She loved and was loved by her students, her colleagues in the academic world and her treasured family and friends. Sister is survived by her brother Charles and his wife Charlotte of Point Pleasant, NJ and her many cousins, nieces and nephews and Sisters of Mercy of the Mid-Atlantic Community. Visitation will take place at Mount Saint Mary, Immaculate Conception Chapel, 1645 Highway 22, Watchung, NJ, Saturday, August 20, 2016. Wake: 9:00 to 11:00 AM Welcome Home Service: 9:45 AM Mass of Christian Burial: 11:00 AM Burial: St. Gertrude Cemetery, 53 Inman Ave, Colonia, NJ Memorial donations may be made to Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic Community, 1645 High 22 West, Watchung, NJ.