Sister Margaret Beaudette, S.C., (Sister Marie Gerard), a member of the Sisters of Charity of New York for 69 years, died March 12 at Mount St. Vincent Convent. She was 89.

Born in Astoria, she attended Immaculate Conception School; Blessed Sacrament H.S., and Hunter College, both Manhattan.

She received a bachelor’s in art from the College of Mount St. Vincent and an master in fine arts from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., with a major in sculpture. While Sister Margaret is well known for her many artistic creations, her early ministry was in education on the elementary, high school and college levels.

In the Brooklyn Diocese, she taught at St. John the Baptist, Bedford-Stuyvesant, 1948-54; and St. Mary Star of the Sea, Court St., 1954-57.

In 1976, the first dedication of one of her sculptures was held at Sacred Heart Church, Manhattan. This was followed by the commission for a bronze statue of Paul the Apostle for St. Paul’s Church, Manhattan. A bonded bronze sculpture of Elizabeth Ann Seton stands in Boyle Hall at Mount St. Vincent with additional castings at the College of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, N.J., and the New York Catholic Center, Manhattan.

In 1987, Sister Margaret began to work full time as a sculptor. Since that time, her work, which includes more than 60 major statues, can be seen across the U.S. in hospitals, churches, shrines, and places of burial. In addition, she has sculptures in France, Canada, Bermuda, Haiti, and South Korea.

She was the recipient of the J. Dudley Diggs Award for Sculpture, the Mother Teresa Award from the St. Bernadette Institute of Sacred Art, and the Seton Legacy of Charity Bicentennial Medal, as one whose life emulates the spirit and mission of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, to name a few.

She is survived by her sister, Anne McLaughlin, and her brother, Joseph Beaudette.