sr. bernadette melling

‘Light’ Goes Out as Winchester School Loses Principal

HERALD Staff Report
(From the Issue of 3/8/07)

Sister of Notre Dame Bernadette Melling, principal at Sacred Heart Academy in Winchester and who Father Stanley J. Krempa, pastor, called a “light to the community,” died of cancer March 4. She was 58.
“She was more than a principal,” Father Krempa said. “She touched people on many levels. She was very much involved in the life of the parish and with the people of the parish.”
Sister Bernadette was struck with her third bout of cancer earlier this year, her 13th year at the Winchester school. During her final days, those who loved her kept vigil around the clock, Father Krempa said.
"I join members of the Sacred Heart Academy community in mourning the recent death of Sister Bernadette Melling," said Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde. "Sister Bernadette’s kind and gentle demeanor was a gift to so many students, nourished by her vocation to the religious life and to teaching at the Academy. In a particular way, she was an advocate for children, including those with special needs. Together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish and school community, I thank the Lord for the life and witness of Sister Bernadette."
Hailing from New York, Sister Bernadette received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore and her master’s degree in special education from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
She taught at St. John School in Hydes, Md., from 1970-71; Most Holy Name School in Pittsburgh from 1971-84; and was an administrator at St. Michael School in Frostburg, Md., from 1984-94, when she arrived at Sacred Heart. According to Father Krempa, Barbara Bracken, longtime Sacred Heart teacher and assistant principal, will serve as interim principal at the school until a search committee — convened when Sister Bernadette fell ill — finds a replacement, ideally by early April.
Sister Bernadette was always there for the parishioners, Father Krempa said, and she knew every child at the school by name.
Many parents brought the children to the open-casket viewing that was held Monday. A funeral Mass was celebrated Tuesday morning at Sacred Heart, and another was to be celebrated on Wednesday at the Sisters of Notre Dame motherhouse in Baltimore.
Father Matthew Zuberbueler, parochial vicar, said that Sister Bernadette accomplished much, but in a very quiet way.
“You knew she was doing her part down there (at the school),” he said. “She never really made her presence known, but it was.”