Sister Rita Epilone

Sister Rita Epilone was a child in Queens at the time of Pearl Harbor and grew up during World War II. She calls herself, in the Catholic parlance of the day, a “public school kid”. It was not until the 7th and 8th grades that she attended Our Lady of Sorrows School in Corona and was taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph. As part of a large loving Catholic family, she and her brother attended religious instruction (“Confraternity”) twice each week and she took it very seriously. The parish priests and sisters were energetic, happy and very involved and instrumental in the lives of their young parishioners. These experiences affected Rita who always felt a “pull inside”

In 1952, she joined the Sisters of St. Joseph. Her first mission was to Visitation Parish in Red Hook near the docks of Brooklyn. At the time it was known as a rough and poor neighborhood. Sister Rita loved the parish and the children. All these years later, she is still in contact with many of them

Having earned her degrees in education from St. John’s University, Sister Rita taught in elementary schools in Brooklyn and in Suffolk County for 20 years. When the Congregation began its ministry to children who were deaf, Sister Rita was drawn to it. She attended Hunter College and earned a masters degree in Deaf Education. The congregational school for the deaf was in Brooklyn at the former St. Francis Xavier Academy and Sister Rita went to live and teach there

She soon realized that she had to unlearn English, which could not be directly translated into sign language, in order to master American Sign Language which was the language of the deaf children. She enrolled at NYU for an intensive course with a deaf instructor.

In 1974, the school moved to the Bishop McDonnell high School building as St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf. Sister Rita taught there until she was sent to The Cleary School in Ronkonkoma in 1976. In Ronkonkoma she was challenged to a greater growth, compassion, and understandingof the culture of deaf students. Her skills were honed by attending Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.

In 1968, the Rubella virus had swept across the United States. It affected women in their third trimester of pregnancy resulting in children who had varying degrees of hearing loss. Because of the great number of affected children entering schools in the seventies, it was known as the “Rubella Bulge”.

At the Cleary School these eighth grade students who had gone through the program had no high school available to meet their needs. Some students could be integrated into the regular programs but others could not. Through the efforts of S. Doris Batt ,who negotiated with the NY State Department of Education and Mercy HS in Riverhead, a program was developed for these students at Mercy HS. Each subject area had two teachers in the class, the regular classroom teacher and one who taught in sign language. Sister Rita’s role was in the history class where she signed the material for the deaf students in an integrated classroom.

When a Guidance Counselor who could sign was needed, Sister Rita attended LIU and earned a masters degree in Mental Health. She then filled this role

When she retired from the NY State system in 1997, the Diocesan Office contacted her and asked her to come to Our Lady of Providence School as a guidance counselor. She did and was there for four years.
Then Maria Regina was working toward becoming a state certified facility. Sister Helen Clancy, who was the administrator, asked sister Rita to come as Admissions Director. She served in that role for two years. Then a Director of Volunteers was needed. Again, Sister Rita responded and willingly served in that role. When she was no longer in that role, she stayed on and helped as sacristan or wherever she might be needed.
Now retired and living in St. Joseph Convent, Sister Rita feels her life has come full circle. She is back in the place where everything began. The word she uses to describe her life is gratitude. She has never regretted her choice and has enjoyed every experience and service. She has tried to respond to every need whenever she was asked. The “public school kid” has lived in the true tradition of the Sisters of St. Joseph by doing “whatever was necessary”.