Sister Helen will be remembered by her students, their parents, and the Sisters with whom she lived and worked as kind, compassionate, and ready to assist anyone who needed help.

Sister Helen Scoltock (Sister Margaret Dolores) was born February 21, 1926, in Springfield, N.Y., one of two daughters of Albert and Helen Kilroy Scoltock. Helen attended Saint Joseph School and Bishop McDonnell High School, both in Brooklyn, and worked for three years before entering the Sisters of Charity of New York on February 1, 1947. Sister Margaret received a BA in English from the College of Mount Saint Vincent and an MS in Elementary Education from Saint John’s University. She later earned New York State permanent certification in Elementary Education and Administration and Supervision.

Forty-four years of Sister Helen’s ministry was in the field of Elementary Education. She taught all elementary grades, but one, before becoming principal in 1972. She spent her years of teaching at Saint Paul, Saint Patrick, and Our Lady of Good Counsel Schools, all in Manhattan and, in between, at Saint Peter, Poughkeepsie, and Saint Gabriel, East Elmhurst. For the next twenty years, Sister Helen served as school administrator at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Manhattan; Our Lady of Angels, Bronx; and Our Lady of Lourdes, Malvern, Long Island. After a year’s sabbatical, Sister Helen joined the administrative team at Convent of Mary the Ocean Star in Ventnor, NJ. In 1996, Sister Helen moved to Mount Saint Vincent Convent and, for fourteen years, performed volunteer service in the Development Department at the Sisters of Charity Center. In 2014, Sister Helen was among the first group of sisters to move to the Jewish Home Lifecare, Assisted Living Program, in the Bronx. In 2017, she joined other Sisters of Charity in retirement at the Kittay Senior Apartments of The New Jewish Home where she was living at the time of her death on February 2, 2019.

Sr. Helen with a student at St. Patrick School, Manhattan, circa 1962

Sister Helen will be remembered by her students, their parents, and the Sisters with whom she lived and worked as kind, compassionate, and ready to assist anyone who needed help. She will also be remembered for her great sense of humor and enjoyment of movies.

We rejoice with and for her now as she enters her heavenly home, greeted by our loving God, “Welcome home, my good and faithful servant.” Be at peace, Sister Helen.