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students
Sr. Rita Walsh ’48 The life of both a SEAster and a sister. ALUMNA SPOTLIGHT
by Katelyn Rohlf | ’21 and Samantha Insler | ‘22
What was life like at the Academy when you attended? The Academy when I was there was very different from what it is now. It was like a convent. There were only 25 in each class, so 100 students. The principal was Sister Mary Josephine Bauer; a very oldtimer, everything was sinful, you know. When we went to class we always gathered in the study hall. There was no talking in the study hall. It was a study hall, you studied there. And when you left to go to class, you walked one behind the other in silence. I don’t think you’re doing that now. But it was a wonderful school, I got a wonderful education. I’m never sorry for my decision to go there. We had a very heavy schedule. You had to maintain your grades. There were eight of us who were day students who came from Dover and picked up girls along the train line. Every year we had a silent retreat. We lived like nuns. And look what happened?
At what age did you enter the convent? Seventeen. My birthday is on November 2. On October 2, 1948, I entered the convent and turned 18 a month later.
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LEGACY Magazine | SPRING 2020
I started very young, so really convent life is all I know. But I’ve never regretted my choice. Even as old as I am, I’ve never regretted my choice.
Do you know when you wanted to join the convent, or when you knew that you had a calling? I was a kid, maybe 5th grade. I always wanted to be a teacher and I always wanted to be a sister. So I put the two together and entered the convent. It worked out very nicely. I had Caldwell Dominicans in grade school but I prefer the Sisters of Charity. They’re a bigger order. We now have 228, which is not a lot but that’s the way religious life is going, that’s the way the church is going.
How did you choose your name entering the convent? Well, when I was born, my mother named me Camilla Walsh because she had a teacher, named Sister Camilla. And she said, “If ever I had a daughter I’m going to name her Camilla after her.” So here I am. I don’t like it. As I got older, I liked it but I didn’t like it growing up; Camilla, gorilla, how kids are. My confirmation name was Rita. Then when we chose
names in religion, I chose Anna David because that was my mother and father’s name. Then in 1965 [after Vatican Council II] we had the opportunity of going back to our own names. I didn’t want to go back to Camilla and I’ve been kicking myself ever since. Everyone was changing so I took my name, Rita. That’s how I am here. I hope when I die, they bury the right one of us, out of all these names.
Do you have a favorite saint? And why? St. Joseph is my favorite saint, Patron of the Dying. And we all have to do it, you know. I lost a nephew at the age of 23. He had just come home from Vietnam. He and his buddy were out, his buddy was driving and a tractor trailer hit them and killed them both. He came home from Vietnam without one scratch.
Can you tell us a little about your family? My mother and father were very religious, we were always in church. It was very nice and I fell into this naturally. I had one sister. My mother and father were pregnant 5 times but only 2 of us made it. My sister and I were 10 years
