By JENNIFER ABEL
Staff writer

NEW BRITAIN — Sister Mary Alma has been familiar to almost three generations of students at Sacred Heart School. It’s been 60 years since she first became a Daughter of Mary of the Immaculate Conception, and while she still lives in the convent on Orange Street, she just finished her last year as principal of the school next door and will formally retire Tuesday.

Sister Mary Alma was born Irene Sakowicz. All sisters in her convent have the first name “Mary,” and the name Alma was chosen for her when she took her vows.

“When I came here 60 years ago you couldn’t choose your own name. They gave you the name they felt suited you ... at that time, they’d say ‘give us examples of names you would like.’ Then you’d pick names out of a hat. The first name I picked was terrible, and I said ‘I don’t like that! I can’t live with that!’ The second name I picked was also horrible. Finally, a sister suggested Alma.”

“When girls enter today, they can keep their baptismal names, but we all add Mary to our names.”

It’s nice that new sisters can keep their original names if they wish, but perhaps a tad disconcerting to think of convents in 30 years filled with Sister Britneys and Sister Dakotas.

“Oh, I don’t think it will come to that. You have to have the name of an acclaimed saint. We have a Sister Jennifer, the name comes from St. John.”

Irene Sakowicz became Sister Mary Alma in 1949, but knew long before then that she wanted to pursue a teaching career.

“As a child I used to line up the kids on the steps of our house, and we’d play school. I’d be the teacher.”

But the desire to become a sister didn’t emerge until high school.

“I was at Washington Junior High School — now the Washington Apartments — when a new high school opened in town, Mary Immaculate Academy. I said to my mother ‘I just have to go to that school,’ and she said, ‘We’ll see if we can afford the tuition.’ At the time it was $100.”

Her working-class parents managed to scrape the money together, and she enrolled at Mary Immaculate.

“The sisters had a good influence on me. I think they were angling for me to become a sister.”

Mary Alma and her housemates at the convent are “sisters,” not “nuns.”

“There’s a difference,” Sister Alma said. “Nuns are cloistered. They don’t go out, they don’t teach.” By contrast, “We have one novice who’s a physician’s assistant. We have teachers and sociologists.”

The 17-year-old Irene Sakowicz started giving serious thought to becoming a sister.

“I used to pray about it: ‘Lord, let me be a sister or find a good man to marry.’ I found some good people, but not good enough for a lifetime commitment.”

During senior year she became a postulant. “It’s the first step. I spent about a year as a postulant. Then I became a novice — take on the habit, but wear a white veil.” (Members of the Daughters of Mary wear blue habits and black veils; the novice’s veils are white.)

Sister Mary Alma started teaching first grade in 1952, and attended college nights and weekends. Eventually she acquired three degrees: a bachelor’s from Seton Hall University, a master’s from Manhattanville College and a degree in administration from Fairfield University.

She spent the majority of her teaching career — and eventually her principal’s career — in New Britain, but also taught in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She has been principal of Sacred Heart since 1992.

“But I felt I was getting on,” she said of her decision to retire. “I’m 77 years old, and don’t have the energy I used to have. I don’t think you should stay in a job until you drop; you should look three, five years down the road, and look for someone else to carry on.”

Once her formal retirement goes through next week, Sister Alma will still live in the convent, and plans to spend her time training new sisters. “I’m retiring as principal, but I’m changing my career. Nobody really retires. They change their way of living, change their focus. That’s what I’ll be doing.”

Jennifer Abel can be reached at jabel@ctcentral.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 306.