CHARLESTON—Sister Marie Cecilia Ferro, a Sister of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy, died at May Forest, the congregation’s motherhouse, on April 21. She was 90.
The Mass of Christian Burial was held at May Forest chapel on April 25. Burial was in Holy Cross Cemetery.
Sister Marie Cecilia was born Marion Helen Ferro on July 17, 1921, in Arlington, N.J., a daughter of the late Ernest Max and Anna Schmutzler Ferro. She was a graduate of St. Agnes Academy in College Point, N.Y., and received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education from Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. She also attended Our Lady of Mercy Junior College in Charleston, Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and Loyola University in New Orleans, La.
She entered the convent on Sept. 8, 1939, and professed her final vows on March 25, 1949.
Sister Marie Cecilia was certified as an elementary school teacher in South Carolina and New Jersey. In Charleston she taught at St. Joseph’s, Sacred Heart, the Cathedral schools, and Bishop England and Immaculate Conception high schools.
She also taught at St. Anne School in Sumter, St. Andrew School in Myrtle Beach, and St. Angela Academy and St. Mary Help of Christians School, both located in Aiken.
In New Jersey she taught at Our Lady of Mount Virgin School in Middlesex and St. Michael’s School in Gibbstown. She served as coordinator of Our Lady of Mount Virgin Convent in Middlesex, St. Mary’s Convent in Aiken and May Forest.
Sister Marie Cecilia
later became a certified chaplain and was a member of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains.
She is survived by her sisters, Anna Ferro of Stony Point, N.Y., and Margaret Tursich of Marietta, Ga., and a brother, Fred Ferro of Stony Point, several nieces and nephews, and her sisters in community.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach Center, P.O. Box 607, Johns Island, SC 29457.