Sr. BarryA graveside prayer service and burial for Sister Susan Barry, OSU, were held May 9 at St. Peter Cemetery in Kirkwood. Sister Susan died May 2 at St. Andrew’s at Francis Place in Eureka. She was 80 years old. A memorial Mass is planned for June.
The daughter of Eugene Joseph and Helen Koch Barry, she was born Feb. 13, 1942, in San Francisco. She entered the Ursuline community on July 19, 1961, and professed vows on Jan. 20, 1964. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of New Rochelle and a master’s degree in private education administration from the University of San Francisco.
Sister Susan taught primary grades at Ursuline Academy in New Orleans from 1966-71, religion at St. Patrick School in Galveston, Texas, from 1971-74 and primary grades at St. Aloysius School in Springfield, Illinois, from 1977-78. She was principal of St. Patrick’s in Galveston from 1974-77.
In 1979, Sister Susan transferred to the Ursulines’ Western Province, where she continued her education ministry, serving as principal of St. John Elementary School in San Francisco, principal of Holy Trinity School in San Jose and assistant principal of St. Leo the Great Elementary School in San Jose. In the early 1990s, she was named “Principal of the Year” in a four-state region of the National Catholic Educational Association.
She returned to the Central Province in 2014 and lived in Alton, Illinois, until she moved to Francis Place in 2019.
Sister Susan is survived by three sisters: Maureen Barry Sutton, Dianne Barry and Debby Barry.