Crediting Sister Agnes Jerome Murphy
As parents of a special needs daughter, we were glad to see the recent articles in the Hawaii Catholic Herald regarding inclusive education in Catholic schools in Hawaii.
However, any reference to special education in Hawaii should not fail to mention Notre Dame Sister Agnes Jerome Murphy who started teaching special education classes at Mary, Star of the Sea School in 1965 on a $3,000 loan from (superintendent of Catholic schools) Msgr. Daniel Dever.
Eventually she established the Special Education Center of Hawaii (SECO) which is now housed at Diamond Head.
Sister’s guiding principle, “God will provide,” provided an incredible impetus for her work. SECO taught our daughter, among other things, to read before she could talk, to swim, to tumble, to go camping, and to ride horses. More importantly, Sister and her excellent staff of teachers developed our daughter as an individual. And Sister did this for all of her students. She was truly a miracle worker.
We are forever in our debt to this wonderful individual for her ability to truly draw out our daughter’s real self, to educate her to the fullest.
Val and Art Mori