Jubilarian Sister Maria Goretti Lovett

Sister Maria Goretti Lovett, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, is celebrating her 70th jubilee. She taught for 60 years at Catholic grade schools in Louisville, Morgantown, West Virginia, and in Columbia. Sister Maria recalls, “I was the seventh child in a family with eight children, and my dad was the seventh child also, as was his father. We called ourselves the ‘Lucky Seven.’ Perhaps being a ‘Lucky Seven’ was the reason I was privileged to attend Saint Peter’s in Columbia.”

Sister says, “I guess that really was the beginning of my vocation, because from the very first day of school, I fell in love with the Sisters. I made up every excuse to stay after school to help them in any way I could. After many late arrivals home, my mother would say, ‘Maybe you should take your bed and stay there with the Sisters!’” Sister Maria kept the secret of wanting to become an Ursuline for many years and says no one would have believed her anyway as she was truly the toughest “tomboy” in school—playing football, basketball, climbing trees and fishing.

When Sister Maria finally told her parents two weeks before graduating from Ursuline High School, they gave her their blessing. Her father was quick to add, “Hon, I’ll give you a week there and they will ship you back when they see how boisterous you are!”

Sister Maria’s last teaching assignment was at St. Joseph Catholic School in Columbia, where she taught for 41 years and was known as the kickball queen. She pitched kickball every school day at recess, except for when it rained—then she would invent a game or pull out musical instruments.

Sister loves singing and says, “I had three words painted on my classroom walls: SING, SMILE, and LOVE. I believe that singing hymns is like praying twice. I think it makes a room brighter if you enter smiling. And love is the greatest of all gifts of the Holy Spirit. Without love, there is nothing. I taught my first graders all three words. I wanted them to know that they are loved, and God put them here to love others.”

Another talent Sister Maria had was the ability to pull a child’s tooth. Students would come from every grade to have Sister pull their teeth because, as one student put it, “It doesn’t hurt when Sister does it!”

Sister Maria’s philosophy of teaching was that one must teach the WHOLE child. She said, “All children are unique individuals. I try to nurture the student’s growth in spirit, as well as knowledge.” She says the

most rewarding part of her career has been teaching generations, including grandchildren of her former classmates. “It is a blessing to have a positive effect on a student who will grow up and teach his own children something that you taught him,” Sister says. Indeed, Sister Maria has literally taught thousands of students and touched even more lives throughout her ministry.

Sister Maria was NOT shipped back home after her first week of entering the Ursulines, as her beloved father had predicted, and says that she can truthfully say that she loved every minute of teaching as an Ursuline Sister. She says, “I thank God for the many gifts he has given me, the greatest being my vocation.”

BY KATHY WILLIAMS