Sister Marie Tramontana

Marie Tramontana was born in Brooklyn and grew up in St. Matthew’s Parish on Eastern Parkway. She always wanted to be a teacher. Although she attended the parish elementary school staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph, becoming a sister was not in her thinking.

On graduating from St. Matthew’s, Marie attended St. Joseph High School. There she met Sister Muriel Ligouri and Sister Muriel Perpetua. They were excellent teachers and women of exceptional kindness. Marie admired them and was drawn to them believing them to be outstanding women. She began to consider their lifestyle and how it made them who they were. In 1956, after graduating from high school, she entered the congregation. At reception, she received the name Sister Mary Trinita. Somewhere along the line, she got the nickname” Trinie “and it stuck.

The first assignment Trinie was given was to teach the 2^nd grade at St. Robert Bellarmine school. Her desire to become a teacher was being fulfilled. From St. Robert’s, Trinie was transferred to St. Angela Hall Academy as a teacher of reading in the elementary school division and a teacher of English and reading in the high school. Meanwhile she had earned a Master’s degree in English and Reading at Manhattan College.

The congregation sent her to a three-week course sponsored by New York State on revising the NYS curriculum guide, It was there that she became committed to the process of using literature to inspire writing and the concept of thematic education. Her principal at the time was Sister Maria Stapleton, an innovative educator, who encouraged her to use this method. She began to use these skills and the results were outstanding. From the primary grades through the twelfth grade, she saw remarkable results. The process required students to share their work, learn from one another and listen to each other as their writing reflected what hearing literature had inspired in them.

Her love of teaching energized her and her students. Trinie saw this as a way of bringing them beyond themselves, connecting them to one another, and engendering respect for one another in an atmosphere of success and learning. It was a way of bringing our mission into practice. “I think they enjoyed it,” she says,” but, I loved it!”

Her next assignment was teaching English at Fontbonne Hall. She was then asked to be principal of St. Angela Hall elementary school, but, after a brief period, Trinie returned to teaching. It was her passion. She became an educational consultant, visited schools and gave model lessons demonstrating for teachers how to use the method of teaching writing through literature.

Most of all, she never stopped feeling how wonderful it was to see children realize what they could accomplish and how enjoy their own creativity. She loved teaching children herself no matter their age. Children were taught to listen to one another’s work, respect one another and not to judge one another.

Now retired, Sister Marie still misses teaching. For her, the curriculum was never as important as the child. To see children grow and enjoy success was the joy of her years of teaching.

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”  
Albert Einstein