Sister Irene Nebus, 60 Years

Whether reflecting upon her term as an inner-city elementary school principal, or recalling years spent teaching mathematics to suburban-bred students, Mercy Sister Irene Nebus uses the same, heartfelt phrase to describe her 60 years of religious service -- “I loved every minute of it.”
 

Young Irene’s strong faith, and the influence of the Mercy sisters who taught her at now-closed Sacred Heart grammar and St. Mary High schools in South Amboy, fanned her desire to become a religious sister despite her parents’ discouragement.
 

“While I went to college [Seton Hall University, South Orange], I was a lay teacher at Our Lady of Victories School, Sayreville,” she said. “I always wanted to enter the order, and I waited until I was old enough not to ask my parents’ [approval]. I kept pushing.”
 

Sister Irene professed her temporary vows and earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Georgian Court College (now University), Lakewood. Her first assignment as a religious was as a sixth-grade teacher in St. Mary School, Bordentown, where the diverse student body from around the world included many from families living on the nearby McGuire Air Force Base.
 

After a term at St. Francis [now Cathedral] School, Metuchen, Sister Irene took up the role of eighth-grade teacher at St. Mary Academy, Lakewood, where for a time children lived during the school year.
 

“We were mother and father, sister and brother to these children,” Sister Irene remembered. “We were their family all the time. We also had children living at the school from Jackson, those from families who could not take care of their own.”

Her first position as principal at St. Mary School, Trenton, introduced the religious to the disadvantages of inner-city life.
 

“Oh, the poverty,” she said sadly. “It was so hard for them. But they loved school and wanted to learn. For years, after I left, I got notes from some of the students saying, ‘Thanks,’ and they would remember me.”
 

Following her Trenton position, Sister Irene was assigned to St. Joseph School, North Plainfield, where she served as teacher and principal. Her final teaching position was in the Mercy-led, all girls secondary institution of Mount Saint Mary Academy, Watchung, where she taught math and acted as dean of discipline.
 

Sister Irene chuckled as she recalled speaking with students in need of a firm, guiding hand, saying, “They were good kids. I loved every minute of it.” It delights her when parents of current Mount Saint Mary Academy students bid her hello, remembering their own encounters with her at the Mount, which now serves as her home in retirement.
 

Sister Irene, recalling her own delayed vocation, advocates any individual contemplating life as a religious do some soul searching and be patient.
 

“It helped me that I went to college and was a lay teacher first,” she said. “It gave me time to know what I wanted. Don’t jump into it. Give it a lot of thought.”