Sister Mary Stephen Underwood, O.P.

Sister Mary Stephen Underwood, O.P., who served as a principal and teacher in the archdiocese and also was on the leadership council of her religious community, died April 7 in the infirmary of the Dominican Sisters of Hope in Newburgh. She was 93. She was principal of Mount St. Mary Academy in Newburgh, 1966-1969, and served on the leadership council of the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh, 1965-1971 and 1979-1983. She earlier had been principal of a high school in Passaic, N.J., where she also taught. In Newburgh, she taught at Casa San Jose School, 1941-1942, and St. Mary's, 1939-1940. She also coordinated the retirement program at Mount St. Mary Convent in Newburgh, 1971-1979, and later volunteered in the development office. She also was a librarian at a school in Lindenwold, N.J. From 1991 to 2000, she volunteered in the archives of the Dominican Sisters of Hope, formed when three Dominican congregations merged. Born in Gloucester, N.J., she entered the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh in 1939 and made final vows in 1947. She held a bachelor's degree in education from Glassboro State University in New Jersey and a master's in physics from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. A Funeral Mass was offered April 11 in the Dominican Sisters of Hope Chapel in Newburgh, followed by burial in the sisters' cemetery.