By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami

FORT LAUDERDALE | With one final ride through the parking lot and a wave from the students, Sister Marie Schramko bid farewell to the place she called home for 54 years: Cardinal Gibbons High School.

Accompanying her on that last ride was another member of her religious community who has taught at the school for 52 years: Sister Janet Rieden.

Sister Marie is 98 and in her 80th year of religious profession. Sister Janet is 82 and in her 58th year of religious life.

After living for more than five decades in a house across the street from the school, the two returned at the end of December to Joliet, Illinois, home of their religious community, the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate.

Their last day on campus was also their retirement day. The years had slowed their bodies, though not their minds. Both knew the time had simply come.

“This has been a very hard week at Cardinal Gibbons High School; a lot of tears,” said Paul Ott, the school’s principal, at an emotional Christmas luncheon Dec. 16 where more than 100 faculty and staff paid tribute to their longtime colleagues—and in some cases, former teachers and current neighbors.

Ott himself first met Sister Marie as a student at Gibbons in the early 1960s. She was founding principal of the girls’ side of the school, which like many others at the time consisted of separate classes for boys and girls. Piarist Fathers ran the boys’ side, and also served as supervising principals.

He returned as a teacher after college, becoming principal in 2003. When the school became co-educational, Sister Marie retained the title of assistant principal, and continued to teach classes—algebra, geometry, biology, chemistry, Latin, whatever was needed—until 2010, when she scaled back to tutoring individual students.

“Her last day at work was seven days ago,” said Ott.

He called her “an educator’s educator,” and credited her for taking the school from its first academic accreditation to recognition as a National School of Excellence—not to mention from a barren sand lot with skeletons of brick and mortar to a modern, built-out campus.

“She was a 24-hour teacher and administrator. I don’t think there’s any other principal in the state of Florida, perhaps even the country, who attended every game, every play,” said Ott. “She would walk to the top row of the bleachers in the gym and in the football stadium so that she would have an unimpeded view of what her kids were doing.”

Holy Cross Brother Michael Brickman agreed. “Kids were very conscious of her. Her presence was unbelievable.”

Brother Michael met Sister Marie and Sister Jane when he began working at the school 15 years ago. He soon became their driver, assistant and confidant.

He described Sister Marie as a “missionary,” who found a snake and a raccoon in her office on her first day at Gibbons, no knob on the door and no desks for the students. So she improvised, making desks out of plywood and sawhorses.

And don’t let that “assistant principal” title fool you, said Louise Crocco, who attended Gibbons and returned in 1969 to teach and coach volleyball. She retired in 2009 as athletic director, a position she assumed in 1981—and a rarity for a woman even today.

“Sister told me at that time, ‘Because you’re a woman you have to do everything better than anybody else.’ I just told her, ‘Sister, I always want to make you proud.’

“Her and my mom probably had the most influence in my whole life,” Crocco said. “She’s been the backbone of the school. Anytime there was a problem, you’d go to Sister and you knew she’d solve it. Many times she stayed in the background, when we knew she was the reason why things were happening.”

English teacher Glenn Lee called the two women “the perfect combination,” Sister Marie as administrator, Sister Janet as teacher.

Lee has taught at Gibbons since 1977. In fact, it’s where he met his wife, JoAnn Lee, who began teaching there in 1979. Sister Janet served as their English Department chairperson for decades. More recently she taught art history and coordinated graduation for the senior class—despite needing a walker to get around.

“Her students love her and when you have that kind of relationship everything is possible in the classroom,” said Lee.

He noted that many Gibbons grads retain what they call “the notebook,” class notes containing all of Sister Janet’s “pearls of wisdom. They can quote her. It’s just amazing.”

Many more described the sisters as family.

“It’s very sad for us,” said Jackie Hanke, who taught at Gibbons from 1969 to 1979 then returned in 1984 after her children were grown. She still teaches a freshman literature course. Her daughter, Kristin Hanke, who shares a birthday with Sister Marie, works as alumni director.

The Hankes have lived across the street from the sisters since 1968.

“They made (Kristin’s) baptismal dress,” Hanke recalled. “We love them like they’re part of our family. And we are a family at Gibbons. I know they’re going to be happy where they are but we’ll really miss them.”

“Sister Janet’s been a friend of ours forever,” said Pat Burke, who taught at Gibbons for 28 years and lived two doors down from the sisters for decades.

After she retired in 2008, “I was able to take over and help them. It’s been pure pleasure and a pure joy, two wonderful role models,” she said. But now “they need more help than what we can do.”

Ott predicted their absence would be most felt among the school’s 12,000 alumni. “When alumni come back to Cardinal Gibbons they need to see Sister Marie and Sister Janet. Both their contributions have been exceptional.”

Their low-key departure was their idea, he noted. “They’re Franciscan. They’re humble."

Asked at the farewell luncheon if this was a sad day, Sister Marie replied quickly. “Oh, my, no. It’s full of life. I love the work that I do and I appreciate the help that everybody has given me. Nothing was ever too much.”