Sister Mary Margaret DeWit was born on April 2, 1911, in Chicago, Illinois, the eldest of six children of Peter Fabian and Marie (Brugman) DeWit. She was baptized Margaret Mary on April 4, 1911 at St. Willibrord Church in Chicago. She had three brothers, John, Bernard and Charles; and two sisters, Alida and Helen, all of whom are deceased.
Margaret Mary attended St. Nicholas and Holy Rosary elementary schools in Chicago, and graduated from St. Mary Grade School in West Brooklyn, Illinois. She attended St. Louis Academy in Chicago for one year and graduated from Mount St. Clare Academy, Clinton, Iowa, in 1929.
Margaret Mary entered the congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis at Mount St. Clare Convent, Clinton, on August 15, 1928, and received the name Mary Margaret at her reception on April 30, 1929. She made her first profession on June 22, 1931, and her final profession on June 19, 1934. Her novitiate classmates were Sisters Theresa McBride, Leo Conway, Carmen Marie Swift, Mary Jude Birck, Joanne Knoblach, Audrianne Welch, Cecile Devereaux, Annette Higdon, Mary Ellen Kelly, Stanislaus Goetz, and Francis Xavier Ryan.
Sister Margaret received an A.A. from Mount St. Clare College, Clinton, and a B.A. in history from St. Ambrose College, Davenport, Iowa. She earned an M.S. in Education from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, and an M.A. in Library Science from Rosary College, River Forest, Illinois. She did further study at DePaul University, Chicago; San Diego College for Women, San Diego, California; and Loyola University of Los Angeles, California. She held a Permanent Professional Teaching and Administration Certificate in Iowa and in Nebraska.
Sister Margaret spent most of her 60 years of active ministry teaching elementary and high school as well as serving as principal for five years. In Clinton, she taught primary grades at the former Sacred Heart School from 1934-1950. Other Iowa schools at which she taught were St. Ann, Vail; St. Columbkille, Varina; Our Lady of Good Counsel, Fonda; and Danbury Catholic, Danbury. She also taught at St. Francis de Paula, Chicago; St. Kieran, Chicago Heights, Illinois; St. Catherine, Riverside, California; St. Ann, Lexington, Nebraska; and St. Justin Martyr, St. Louis, Missouri. For several years she directed high school and parish choirs.
In Clinton she worked six years at the Clinton Public Library; four years at the Mount St. Clare College library; and as receptionist at the Mount St. Clare Speech and Hearing Center. She retired at Mount St. Clare Convent in 1991 and served as convent librarian, archivist, and sacristan.
She lived at The Canticle from 1997 until July, 2011, when she moved to The Alverno, where she died on January 25, 2012.
Funeral Services for Sister Mary Margaret DeWitt, OSF at The Canticle, Clinton, Iowa
WAKE Friday, January 27, 2012
Rosary at 4:00 P.M., Scripture Service at 6:30 P.M.
FUNERAL MASS OF THE RESURRECTION
Saturday, January 28, 2012, 9:30 A.M.
Presider ~ Very Rev. Kenneth Kuntz
BURIAL St. Irenaeus Cemetery, Clinton, Iowa
