The following are bios and photos of a few of the Honorees for the 2013 St. Martin of Tours Annual Celebration. The page will be updated as more information becomes available:
Stewardship: Sister Margaret Mary Miller CSJ
Distinguished Alumni:
Patrick J. Reilly, Class of 1976, USMC, Retired; NYPD, Retired
Colonel Kevin F. Reilly, Class of 1978, U.S. Air Force, Retired
Brian E. Reilly, Class of 1983, Captain, NYPD
Celebrated Women of the Parish:
Gerry Doherty, Class of 1952
Margaret Howard, Class of 1940
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Being Honored for Stewardship:
Sister Margaret Mary Miller CSJ
Sister Marge Miller was born in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in Park Slope, attending St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School (where she first thought about becoming a nun) and St. Saviour High School. After graduating high school she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood. It was their Sister Formation College that she received a provisional teaching degree with a concentration in math.
In 1968 she started what came to be an extensive career in teaching. The congregation sent her to Mary's Nativity School in Flushing where she taught first graders, planned children's liturgies, and was in charge of the Sacrament programs. Realizing she needed a permanent teaching certificate, she attended Boston College taking theology courses under an education title. She received a Masters in Education from Boston College in 1975.
In 1975 she ministered in Sacred Heart, North Merrick as an adult education coordinator. Realizing very quickly that she missed the "little ones" she moved to St. Phillip Neri in Northport where she taught first graders for three years. She then was stationed in St. Martha's where she once again taught first graders and then opened a pre-kindergarten in 1982.
In 1985 it was on to Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead, where she taught theology to freshmen and sophomores, was Dean of Students, was part of the Retreat Committee and Catholic League, and was the moderator of the Defenders, a group that participated in mock trials.
In 1991 she was at All Saints Regional Catholic School in Glen Cove as a Religion Specialist, working with students in all the grades, and preparing liturgies. One young child called her "the God Lady".
Then in 1992 it was back to Brooklyn to teach fourth graders at Immaculate Heart of Mary School. It was here that Sister Marge assumed the role of assistant principal and also gym teacher to both classes of fourth graders because the school could not afford a gym teacher.
1995 found Sister Marge in Richmond Hill, Queens at Holy Child Jesus School. She ministered there for ten wonderful years teaching fourth graders, seventh and eighth grade science, working a remedial and enrichment program for 5-8 grade students (a Middle States goal), assistant principal, testing coordinator, and liturgy resource person.
Finally, in 2005 Sister Marge had the good fortune to meet Sister Maureen who offered her a chance to once again minister to first graders. It is in St. Martin of Tours that she has been privileged to meet the happiest children ever. Her first graders b ounce down the halls with the brightest smiles on their faces. The parents are also so generous with their time and talents working tirelessly to benefit our school. It has been a blessing to finish up a career (though it is not over) in such a fantastic place. Praise God!
Celebrated Women of the Parish:
Gerry Doherty, Class of 1952
Gerry Doherty was born in Brunswick Hospital to Olympia and
Arthur Demeroto. She attended St Martin of Tours School and Graduated from
Massapequa High School in 1956. She was married to Jim Doherty and has 3
daughters all of whom were raised in and still reside in Amityville. Gerry has
6 grandchildren. She worked for the Amityville Public School District and then
the Town of Babylon. She retired from the Town as the Deputy Town Clerk. Gerry
was the recipient of the Maxine Postal Humanitarian Award. Since her retirement
she has been active with the Amityville Kiwanis Club and is the Chair of their
mentoring program. She was a Eucharistic Minister at St. Martin of Tours the
church, the same church she was baptized in and still attends. Gerry Doherty
shares her life with her children, grandchildren and life-long friend Ed
Hudson.
Margaret Howard, Class of 1940
Margaret Webber was the first child in her family to be born on Long Island, at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore on February 20, 1925 and raised in Amityville. She was the 6th child in a family of 8 children and is one of 41 people in her family to attend St. Martin of Tours elementary school. Margaret's oldest brother Tom was in the first class that entered St. Martin's school when it was in the basement of the old church. She attended high school at Queen of the Rosary Academy in North Amityville and married her teenage sweetheart, Lou Howard, on August 15, 1948. Margaret and Lou raised 7 children (all of whom attended St. Martin's) and has 20 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Margaret has lived her entire life in the Friendly Bay Village and loves the water. She has participated in 5 Cross Bay swims and at the time she last completed the Cross bay Swim, she was the oldest female to do so. Margaret and Lou still reside at the home on South Bayview Avenue they built 60 years ago!
Distinguished Alumni:
Patrick J. Reilly
President, Lexington Metal Products Corporation
Realtor, RE/MAX
Lieutenant Colonel, USMC (retired)
Lieutenant, NYPD (retired)
Pat attended Saint Martin of Tours School from 1968 to 1976. During 8 of the most formative years in his
life, he learned not only how to read, write, and add, but learned the core
values taught by both religious and lay teachers that prepare an individual for
life as a Catholic. Pat also remembers
how “strenuously” Sister John Maureen stressed a ¼ inch margin in your notebook
or how Sister Grace Edward could get you to “mind you Ps and Qs” when doing
mathematical problems. As a child and
teenager, these didn’t strike him as important, but later in life the
discipline they instilled made his first encounter with a Marine Corps drill
instructor seem tame by comparison.
After graduation from Saint Martin’s, Pat went on to Saint John
the Baptist, graduating in 1980 with many of the students that he had attended
Saint Martin’s with. The 8 years in Saint
Martin’s not only prepared him for Saint John the Baptist, but also laid the
groundwork for his attendance at the State University of New York, where he
graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Management.
Pat was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States
Marine Corps in 1984 and went on to serve an almost 26 year career both on
active duty and in the reserve, having been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel
prior to his retirement. His service
included duty stations on the East and West Coasts of the United States, Japan
and other parts of Asia, and Saudi Arabia during Operations Desert Shield and
Desert Storm. During his Marine Corps
career, Pat served in many functional areas as both a staff officer and a
commander in logistics, communications, security and recruiting.
Along with his brother Brian, Pat joined the New York City Police
Department (NYPD) in 1990 and went on to a rewarding career, having attained
the rank of Lieutenant before his retirement.
As a member of the NYPD, Pat served on patrol and in a patrol borough,
the Housing Bureau, the Police Academy, the Internal Affairs Bureau, the
Detective Bureau and the Counter Terrorism Bureau.
In the years prior to retirement from the NYPD and the USMC in
2007, Pat started Lexington Metal Products Corporation, a small import and
export business that specializes in commemorative coins. Tonight’s coin is an example of his
work. After retiring and moving his
family to the Tampa, Florida area, Pat went full time with this business and
now sells his products to customers throughout the world.
Pat took the downturn in Florida real estate to become a real
estate agent and Realtor, recognizing that there is always opportunity when the
market “bounces back.” Along with his
other business, he is a Realtor in the Tampa Bay area, specializing in real
estate along the central Gulf Coast of Florida.
The market has “bounced back.”
An elected official in the state of Florida, Pat sits on the board
of supervisors for his community.
Pat met his wife Elise 20 years ago and has been married for 19
years. They have 2 children, Erin and
Patrick III (P.J.). Along with
attendance at Saint Martin’s and the faith he learned there, Pat credits his
wife with much of his success in life.
She has not only been a partner in marriage, but in both of his
businesses, taking an active role in achieving goals they established many
years ago. Additionally, he credits the
religious and lay faculty and staff from Saint Martin’s all those years ago for
helping him to achieve many of the things in life that he set out to do while
living the Christian life his years at Saint Martin’s taught him.
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Colonel
Kevin F. Reilly U.S. Air Force (Retired)
Emergency Programs Manager, Department of Homeland
Security (DHS)
Kevin
attended Saint Martin of Tours from 1970 to 1978. Reflecting on those years,
Kevin admits that the school’s uncompromising standards were as mysterious as
they were inconvenient. Only years later did it become clear that starting each
day with a prayer, perfecting your penmanship, and behaving in class were an
introduction to skills so intrinsic to success; an introduction made possible
through his mother and father’s insightful decision to invest in Catholic
educations.
After
graduating Saint Martin’s, Kevin attended Saint John the Baptist High School in
West Islip from 1978 to 1982. He then studied Political Science at Saint
Joseph’s College and received a Bachelor of Arts in 1986. Upon graduation,
Kevin served for eleven years as an officer and pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps.
During tours in California, North Carolina, and Texas, Kevin flew as a KC-130
Aircraft Commander and T-44 Advanced Flight Instructor.
In
1997, Kevin and his family relocated back to Long Island, where he transferred
to the Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing. During his thirteen
years at the unit’s Westhampton Beach airbase, Kevin served as a search and
rescue pilot, HC-130 Flight Instructor, Squadron Commander, and Operations
Group Commander. He logged over 5800 hours in the cockpit, and was promoted to
the rank of Colonel in 2007. During his career, Kevin flew a support mission to
Operation Desert Storm, made numerous
oversees deployments in support of the Iraqi “no-fly zones,” and was stationed
in southern Iraq during Operation Iraqi
Freedom. He also served as a Commander of search and rescue forces during
numerous NASA space shuttle launches. Kevin opted out of the cockpit for the
last two years of his military career when he was offered an emergency
management position in the Air Force Reserve.
After
joining the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2009, Kevin briefly served
as a federal law enforcement officer and physical security specialist. In 2011
Kevin was offered a position at the DHS Plum Island Animal Disease Center where
he now serves as the facility’s Emergency Programs Manager. Kevin is also a
Lieutenant in his local volunteer fire department, where he serves as a
firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician.
Kevin
is married to the former Catherine Cavanagh of North Babylon. Kevin and Cathy
met in high school and were married in 1992. They have seven children: Matthew
(19), Christopher (16), Sarah (14), Gracie (3, deceased 2004), Yao Yao (12),
Jack (9), Mei Mei (8). Gracie, Yao Yao, Jack, and Mei were all adopted
from China between 2002 and 2010. Kevin credits Cathy for her boundless energy
that made a new life possible for these children. The Reilly family has lived
in Southold, New York since 1997.
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Brian attended Grades 1 through 8 at Saint Martin's---from 1975 to
1983. Never an "A+" student, he was
nevertheless encouraged (to put it mildly) to apply himself academically,
even though he would have rather chatted with the students next to him, as
evidenced by numerous "talking notes" sent home to his parents in
second grade. When he took the friendly advice to focus on his studies a
bit more, it became apparent to him that he was fortunate to attend a school
with such a nurturing and structured environment---an educational experience
that not only emphasized the 3 R's, but instilled discipline and and true moral
values. By the time he graduated in 1983, he realized that Saint
Martin's had prepared him well to succeed academically and
socially in high school, and beyond.
He went on to attend Saint John the Baptist High School in West
Islip (Class of 1987), and then Saint Joseph's College in Brooklyn (Class of
1993), attaining a Bachelor of Science Degree. In 1990, prior to graduating
from college, he became a New York City police officer, where he currently
remains in service with the department. Early in his career, he began acting in
Off-Broadway stage productions in New York City and still performs regularly to
this day. Recent credits include Felix Ungar in Neil Simon's The Odd
Couple and Jack Worthing in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being
Earnest.
Brian met his wife, Joanne Lee, shortly before 9/11; the two
married in 2003 and currently live in Garden City, NY. Joanne is a
physician in private practice in the Nassau County area. (His cholesterol
was checked on their second date.)
In addition to acting, Brian began producing shows in New York
City in 2010; he founded "CityShow", a theatrical performance
company, where he is the Executive Director ( www.cityshow.biz). In the
Village of Garden City, he also contributes to the community as a volunteer
firefighter with the Garden City Fire Department, where he is currently
training to be an EMT. At his job with the NYPD, he is currently working
in the fields of emergency management and safety administration for the New
York City public school system.
Brian is profoundly grateful for the exceptional education he
received at Saint Martin of Tours, and attributes much of his blessings in life
to the foundational experience at the school. (Thank you Sr. Grace and Sr.
John!)