A viewing and funeral Mass are scheduled for Wednesday for Marie Gallagher, a prominent educator whose career included stints at Little Flower and St. Hubert high schools. She was 72 and lived in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
A viewing will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. at Holy Eucharist Church, 344 Kresson Road, in Cherry Hill. A funeral Mass will follow at 11.
Gallagher, who died Jan. 8, attended St. Bernard Grammar School and St. Hubert High School. She then attended Neumann College, Villanova University and Rider University, receiving two master’s degrees in education and administration. She began teaching at St. Hubert and went on to serve as the first and only lay principal at Little Flower.
In more recent years, she served as principal at two elementary schools in the Runnemede School District in New Jersey. She was a recent retiree.
Perhaps Gallagher’s biggest accomplishment came in 1992, when she helped Little Flower stay open after the Archdiocese of Philadelphia threatened to close it. She was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1997.
Gallagher worked at LF from 1986-95 as a teacher, dean of students and principal. Last September, she returned to the school for its 80th Anniversary Mass and celebration.
Donations may be made in her memory to either St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls, 7320 Torresdale Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19136 or Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls, c/o Sister Joan M. Ames, IHM, Director of Advancement, 1000 W. Lycoming St., Philadelphia, PA 19140. ••
