On February 8, 1964 on Route 22 near Newark Airport, a truck collided with a passenger car carrying four nuns from St. Elizabeth’s School in Bernardsville, NJ. Two sisters were killed and two seriously injured. Sister Valerie (the former Doris C. Dolbach), was school principal and driver and was injured along with Sister Gabriella (Mildred MacCausland). The deceased were Sister Mary Deborah (Jean Oliver of Red Bank), age 28, and Sister Mary Eugenia (Loretta Gavin of Phillipsburg) age 25. Sister Deborah taught 5th grade and Sister Eugenia, 4th.
The impact on the students, school, and the community was huge. St. Elizabeth’s 500 students came from across the area including Basking Ridge (St. James school did not open until 1965). However, under the leadership of Rev. John Torney, Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish reopened St. Elizabeth’s on February 13. Faculty roles were shuffled and all were committed to returning the school quickly to normal, notably lay teachers Carol Devlin and Albert Latino.
A memorial to sisters Deborah and Eugenia was subsequently erected at the school. A box at its foot is used by current students to submit prayer intentions.
I went to school there and it is s a shame that was never taught to us and there was never a memorial regarding this
I am also amazed there was never a memorial, I was in the 7th grade there at the time. Before I-78 always had to drive by that spot on route 22 going to EWR.
Hi Vincenzo and Jim, We checked with the school and there is a memorial–they sent a photo. We’ve added it to the post above. Thanks for your comments and the chance to add to the story.
I was in the 4th Grade, and Sister Mary Eugenia was my teacher.
To say that we were all devastated, was to put it mildly.
I remember crying myself to sleep for so long…
Everyone loved all of the Nuns, but Sister Eugenia always seemed like she already had one foot in Heaven.
Her face was that of an Angel.
Fr. Torney stayed in touch with me for many years. and he always said, “Prsy to Sister Eugenia and Sister Deborah, because they are both Saints in Heaven.”🙏