Sister Terese Warganz, O.P., (also known as Sister Mary Matthew), a member of the Sisters of St. Dominic, Amityville, L.I., for 72 years, died April 12. She was 90.
For many years, she was also a itinerant school counselor in Brooklyn schools and the surrounding area, as well as a teacher for many years on Long Island and Queens.
Later, she worked as a volunteer at St. Rita’s free medical clinic in Mamaroneck, Westchester, for the uninsured.
Born in Manhattan, her family moved to Incarnation parish, Queens Village, where she was introduced to the Dominican Sisters of Amityville. She pronounced her vows on Aug. 7, 1947.
From 1947 to 1970, she taught in the parish schools at St. Pius V, Jamaica; St. Bartholomew, Elmhurst; Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, Roosevelt, L.I.; St. Catherine of Sienna, Franklin Square, L.I.; Our Holy Redeemer, Freeport; and Our Lady of Lourdes, Massapequa Park.
A graduate of St. John’s University, she also earned her master’s there in coun- seling/guidance.
She served as a counselor at St. Michael’s H.S., East New York.
New York State hired her as a counselor in the Bureau of Non-Public Schools in 1976. This began a career of itinerancy as she traveled to Catholic and other non-public schools in East New York and the Bronx, from 1972 to 1978. Since the State or City could not offer such services within the school buildings themselves, she met students in her “office,” which was a bus usually parked a block away from the school.
From 1978 to 1979, she spent a year for prayer at the St. Elizabeth Seton House of Prayer in Scarsdale. In 1979, she was assigned as Regional Director for Guidance first in the Bronx, and then in the Queens Center from 1980 to 1986. She was then assigned to the Bureau of Non-Public Schools in Brooklyn where she remained until 1994.
A strong pro-life advocate, she participated in marches and protests, even being jailed for the cause.
She worked with a doctor in Mamaroneck as a coordinator at St. Rita’s Free Medical Clinic, 1994-2011. In that capacity, she not only directed services but organized parties for the patients, especially a yearly Christmas party for poor children.
In 2011, she moved to Queen of the Rosary Motherhouse.
Burial was in the Sisters’ cemetery in Amityville.
