Dialog reporter
WILMINGTON — There will be a new face leading the fourth-grade class at St. Ann School come September. And while faculty changes are not normally newsworthy, the departure of Sheila O’Callaghan brings to an end a 62-year career in Catholic-school classrooms.
O’Callaghan, known to everyone as Miss O, taught her final group of fourth-graders in June. She spent the last 40 years at St. Ann’s after stops at several other schools in and out of the Diocese of Wilmington. As the year progressed, Miss O knew her days as a full-time teacher were coming to an end.
“I just thought it was time to go,” she said recently at St. Ann’s. “I do the aftercare program, and I’ve been doing that for 27 years, as well as teaching and all the other things I do. The reason I stepped down is because I didn’t want to stay up to 12 and one o’clock anymore every night to try and keep up with everything.”
Sheila O’Callaghan won’t be teaching fourth grade at St. Ann’s School this fall for the first time in 40 years. (The Dialog/Mike Lang)
After arriving at school, she would not return home sometimes until seven or eight at night. Then she would get to work on grading and other responsibilities. Miss O said if she was only teaching, she might be able to continue, but she does so much more at the school.
‘Far from done’
She will continue to have a significant role at St. Ann’s. In addition to the aftercare program, she will work with the school’s declamation, Science Olympiad and Math Olympiad teams. She will write the spiritual part of the weekly school memo and work on liturgies.
St. Ann’s principal Stacy Solomon said the school will benefit from having Miss O remain part of its community, although in a different role.
“This is the beginning of a new chapter,” Solomon said. “Her work is far from done.”
Miss O, who described her age as “a mystery,” notified the faculty of her decision a few months ago. Solomon said the reaction was one of support, “We respected that. But certainly there were lots of tears.”
Miss O said the school families reacted differently.
“The parents said they’re going to picket my house. They said, ‘No, no, Miss O, you can’t go.’ And my students said, ‘Are you sure? Are you really sure you want to go?’”
Born in Ireland
Miss O’s journey to St. Ann’s began in Ireland, where she was educated by the Mercy Sisters. After graduating high school in Ireland at age 16, she came to the United States and took some classes in history, civics and science that earned her an American diploma.
With the Sisters of St. Francis, she embarked on a career in education that began at St. Joseph on the Brandywine School in Greenville and continued at St. Peter the Apostle in New Castle. After stops in South Carolina and Florida, she returned to the Diocese of Wilmington while considering her future with the Franciscans.
“I was making a decision about whether I would leave the community or not. I felt Wilmington was a small place, (where) it would be easier to adjust. And I knew Wilmington and the area.
“I wanted to come back to familiarity,” she said.
She spent three years at Our Lady of Fatima in New Castle as principal and teacher, but she wanted to get back into the classroom full-time. She chose St. Ann’s because there was an opening in fourth grade, and her religious community staffed the school at that time.
Even though she left the Franciscans, she remains close to them and makes occasional visits to the motherhouse in Aston, Pa.
“I have a very nice relationship with them. Every time I see them, they say, ‘Why did you leave?’” she said.
“I just felt that maybe I could do more as an individual. I didn’t have the ability or finances to start my own community, which I many times thought about.”
Willing to learn
Once she began teaching the fourth grade, she resisted attempts to get her to teach older students.
“They’re at an age where they haven’t changed yet, and they’re so willing to be involved and learn. I had a tremendous class this year. They were just incredible,” she said.
Overall, Miss O said, what has changed about education is not the students so much as the way they learn. There is so much technology, but children, she says, are still children.
On July 25, Miss O heads to Ireland for three weeks to catch up with her family; she is the second-oldest of six children and has many nieces and nephews. After that, she will be back in Wilmington with her trusty 1984 Toyota Camry and back at St. Ann’s getting ready for the new school year.
Gardening, reading…
At her home not far from the school, she will enjoy gardening, reading biographies and all things spiritual, as well as taking care of a “very bad cat. A lovely, white bad male” named O’Malley. She has been taking care of a stray around her house, and he could be the next member of the family.
“If Petey is still there when I get back from Ireland, I’m going to take him in,” Miss O said. “I’m just not taking him in now because I’m afraid O’Malley would kill him.”
That’s not the kind of ending Miss O has in mind.
