Posted June 14, 2016

 

Sister Miriam Esther Naughton, a Sister of St. Joseph, died May 21 at St. Joseph Villa in Flourtown. She was 88 and in the 69th year of her religious life.

Born in Chester, she was the daughter of James Naughton and Esther O’Hara. Sister Miriam Esther was a member of St. Alice Parish in Upper Darby and attended Notre Dame High School in Moylan.

She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in September 1947 and professed final vows in 1955.

Sister Miriam Esther graduated with a bachelor of science degree in education from Villanova University and a master of science degree from Gallaudet College (Education of the Deaf) in Washington, D.C.

[hotblock]

As a teacher, she ministered in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia at Nativity B.V.M. and Our Mother of Sorrows schools. She taught at Archbishop Ryan School for Children with Hearing Impairment for several years and remained there as principal.

In the Diocese of Charlotte, N.C., Sister Miriam Esther was a teacher at St. Leo Grade School in Winston-Salem, and she served as librarian at St. Francis Xavier School in the Archdiocese of Washington.

In her later years, she ministered as a tutor at St. Helena Grade School and as a volunteer at Holy Cross Convent until she became a resident at St. Joseph Villa in 2008.

Her funeral Mass was celebrated May 26 at St. Joseph Villa.

Sister Miriam Esther is survived by nieces, grandnieces and grandnephews and members of the Sisters of St. Joseph. She was predeceased by her siblings, the late Father Joseph J. Naughton and Sister Maria Bernard Naughton, S.S.J.