Birth: August 17, 1921 Profession: February 9, 1946 Death: January 16, 2007
Sister Carolyn Curtin, a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart, a pianist, and a teacher in Sacred Heart schools for nearly four decades, died Tuesday (Jan. 16, 2007) of complications of a broken hip, suffered just two days earlier. She was 85 and had been a Religious of the Sacred Heart for 58 years. She had been living at Teresian House, a skilled nursing facility in Albany, New York. Sister Curtin was an accomplished pianist and a piano teacher for decades, even after her retirement to Kenwood Convent of the Sacred Heart in Albany, New York. She had an active intellect and remained interested until the time of her death in music, history, politics and spirituality. A native of Waltham, Mass., Sister Curtin earned a B.A. in piano from Manhattanville College in 1942 and a master’s degree in piano from Columbia University Teachers’ College in 1969. She entered the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1946, professed temporary vows in 1948 and final vows in 1955. Sister Curtin began her teaching ministry on the East Coast, teaching music, math and English in Sacred Heart schools in Newton, Massachusetts, Greenwich, Connecticut, and New York City between 1944 and 1953. She moved to Detroit in 1953, and taught at Academy of the Sacred Heart, Lawrence Avenue from 1953 to 1958, when the school moved to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She taught at Bloomfield Hill from 1958 to 1966. After two one-year teaching stints at Kenwood Academy – from 1966 to 1967 and from 1967 to 1968, with a year off in between to earn her master’s degree – Sister Curtin moved to New York City to teach piano at Convent of the Sacred Heart (“91st Street”). She remained in that position for 14 years, from1969 to 1983. Sister Curtin moved to the retirement center at Kenwood in 1983, and continued teaching piano for another decade to students at Doane Stuart School, a Sacred Heart school situated on the Kenwood campus in Albany. A funeral Mass will be celebrated for Sister Curtin at the Kenwood Convent at 9 a.m. Saturday, January 20, followed by burial in the Kenwood cemetery. She has no immediate survivors. Memorial contributions may be made to the Society of the Sacred Heart, 4100 Forest Park Avenue, Suite A, St. Louis, MO 63108. - End -