Sister served in education

Sister of Mercy Mary Virginia Daly, an Omaha native who served as a longtime educator at College of Saint Mary and a principal at Mercy High School, both in her hometown, died Feb. 3 in Omaha. She was 91.

Her 68 years of religious life included 53 years of service in the archdiocese.

A funeral Mass was held Feb. 8 at Mercy Villa with interment in Resurrection Cemetery, both in Omaha.

Sister Daly attended then-St. Peter School and then-St. John High School (which merged in 1955 with St. Mary High School to form Mercy High School), and Creighton University, all in Omaha.

She joined the Sisters of Mercy in 1948, made her temporary profession in 1951 and her perpetual profession in 1954.

Sister Daly began teaching in 1951 in Council Bluffs. Her first teaching assignment in the archdiocese was at then-St. Patrick School in Omaha from 1952 to 1953.

She also taught at St. Mary High School from 1953 to 1955, and Mercy High School from 1955 to 1960, with additional duties as assistant principal from 1958 to 1960. She served as principal of Mercy from 1972 to 1978.

Sister Daly taught at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha from 1960 to 1965, 1969 to 1972 and 1979 to 1996, including three years as chair of the Humanities Department and nine years as campus minister.

After retiring in 1996, she volunteered at a St. Louis hospital until returning to Omaha in 2002, where she served in prayer ministry at the Sisters of Mercy motherhouse and Mercy Villa, both in Omaha.

Sister Daly was preceded in death by parents, Arthur and Catherine (Rowley) Daly; and brother, Jesuit Father Lowrie Daly. She is survived by the Sisters of Mercy.