Pioneer of girl child education passes away

Sr Margaret, who worked in the field of education for the past 75 years, passed away at St John's Hospital at about 3.40 am due to old age ailments, St Mary's English High School (Maligaon) headmistress Sister Catherine said.

Born at Partengo, Vercelli in Italy on January 12, 1912, she was initiated in the religious order founded by Salesian missionary Don Bosco at Nizza Monferrato in 1935 at the age of 23.

The young nun left for India at the age 24 in 1936 and chose the northeast as her field for work and successfully motivated parents to send their daughters to school.

Sr Margaret worked as a catalyst for building various institutions including St Mary's English Higher Secondary School and Holy Child School in Guwahati, St Joseph's at Tezpur, Auxilium at Tangla, besides Sacred Heart at Mawlai in Meghalaya.

Having spent most of her life in Assam, she was closely associated with the people who fondly remember her as someone very kind, patient, available at all time. Her love for the poor and the needy had made the nun an epitome of help.

Sr Margaret's Requiem Mass was held here at St Mary's Maligaon where the Salesain sisters and her students-- past and present-- as well as their parents and well wishers mourned the death.

There will also be a concelebrated Requiem Mass at St Mary's Convent Chapel, Guwahati, tomorrow followed by the funeral cortege to the Uzan Bazar cemetery here, said Salesian Guwahati Provincial Sr Teresa Puthenpurakel.