By ARIELLA MONTI
Sister Engel has lived in Rockville Centre since she was 7 and has fond memories of her life on a very different Long Island. She is the daughter of John and Margaret Engel and had two sisters, Edna and Virginia, who both lived into their 90s. When her family moved to Rockville Centre from New York City, the Island was not the sprawling suburbia that it is today.
The Southern State Parkway had yet to be built, and the dirt road now known as Sunrise Highway was only eight blocks long. Where it ended, there was a bicycle path. What are now diners, Starbucks and delis were once stands where local farmers sold their produce. A lone traffic light was installed on North Village Avenue and Merrick Road. The Engels lived on Ormond Street.
Mary began her education in Oceanside, and recalls the fire that engulfed the school when she was in seventh grade. The following year she attended classes at various shops in Oceanside. The larger classes, like English, she said, were taught in the firehouse.
At a time when most women were not seeking higher education, she not only graduated from Hunter College, but did graduate work at Manhattanville College, which at the time was still in Manhattan.
Sister Engel began her life of devotion at 22, after earning a teaching degree. She volunteered for three years to help poor American immigrants learn English, and decided that working with the poor was her true calling. "I learned so much, and I knew I had to give my life in some way to healing people," she said. After joining the Congregation of the Infant Jesus, an order of Roman Catholic nuns, she became a nurse and set out to do good things.
Sister Engel said that the most amazing thing she has witnessed in her long life is change. She recalls traveling by horse and buggy, and the numerous attempts at trans-Atlantic flight that took off from Mitchell Field. She acknowledged that while not all change is good, the discoveries that have been made allow people a greater opportunity to live a long life.
"Life has been a series of gifts," she said. "I was gifted with good health." With the exception of some hearing loss, she has had few of the health problems that plague the elderly. She keeps herself informed by reading The New York Times every morning, but she opted not to have a television in her small apartment at Villa St. Joseph, which she has called home for the past 27 years. She continues to read books and study the Bible.
Her love of reading other people's stories led her to write two books. In "Half a Hundred: Whatever Happened to the Sisters?" and "More than Meets the Eye" she shared her stories of faith and life as a spiritual servant.
Sister Engel is still active in prayer ministries, and offers her reflections at Mass. She has traveled to Israel a number of times to study religion. She walks every day, as she did when she was young. "I was born B.C.," she laughed. "Before cars."
Among the many friends she has made over the years is Eileen McMahon, a teacher at St. Mary's High School in Manhassett. They met in 1976, and since then, McMahon said, Sister Engel has been a friend, mentor and mother figure. "She is a great inspiration and has tremendous energy," she said. Sister Engel will often cook the dinners that they share. She celebrates every day of life, McMahon said, and appreciates the things that make that day wonderful.
Her long life and active service were honored last Sunday with a celebration that included 20 family members. Her great-grandniece, Sophia Plaitakas, 5, is the youngest of the bunch.
Comments about this story? AMonti@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
