Sister Agnes Murphy, helper of disabled, dead at 89
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sister Agnes Jerome Murphy, a pioneer in providing services to children and adults with special needs, died Oct. 7 in Honolulu. She was 89.
Sister Agnes was the founder of the Special Education Center of Hawai'i. The nonprofit center was created in 1965 when Sister Agnes realized children with mental disabilities were poorly served in Hawai'i's schools.
Sister Agnes Jerome Murphy is remembered as "a woman ahead of her time."
With a $3,000 church loan, the eighth-grade teacher at Star of the Sea Catholic School in Wai'alae set up a special education center in two classrooms. Today the nondenominational organization has four centers on O'ahu serving adults and children, with an annual budget of $7 million.
"She was a woman ahead of her time, a visionary," said SECOH executive director Mary Jossem. "Long before women were doing what women are doing today, she was doing it way back then. She's really a role model for today's women."
Sister Agnes was born on Aug. 1, 1913, in Worcester, Mass. She entered the Sisters of Notre Dame in Waltham, Mass., in 1932.
In 1950, Sister Agnes moved to Hawai'i as a missionary and joined the staff at Star of the Sea School. She realized early on that there were few programs to help the mentally disabled, and in 1958 she earned a master's degree in special education at the University of Hawai'i to attack the problem head-on.
Sister Agnes' center for special-needs children began with just two instructors. In 1978, she secured a lease on state land at Diamond Head and raised enough money to build a permanent center.
SECOH has evolved over the years, and serves primarily adults with physical and mental disabilities. SECOH also has a day service for people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
"Sister was known for taking the people that no one else in the community would want," Jossem said. "Anyone who came to her with a problem, she'd say we'd take them no matter what, because she felt that we needed to serve those that no one else wanted to serve or were able to serve."
"She was tenacious, persistent, until she got what she wanted for the people that she was serving."
Sister Agnes retired in 1997, but remained active with SECOH. She also was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society, the International Society of Women educators, and served on the Hawai'i State Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities.
A memorial Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 21 at Star of the Sea Church. Contributions may be made to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, 14800 Bohlman Road, Saratoga, CA 95070.
