Sister Rosemary McGuire, OP

Sister Rosemary McGuire is a lifelong educator who enjoyed learning as much as she enjoyed teaching. Her first teaching assignment was a double classroom of first and second graders at St. Thomas School, Crystal Lake, Ill., 1962-1969. From there she moved on to St. Augustine School, Richmond, Mich., 1969-1970, then St. Vincent De Paul, Peoria, where she taught for a year. After a year of study at St. Ambrose College, she returned to the primary classroom at St. Kevin, East Alton, 1971-1978, then headed north to Chicago where she taught second graders at St. Edward School 1978-1981, and first graders at St. Lawrence O’Toole, Matteson, 1981-1985.

When Sister Rosemary returned to Springfield, her hometown, in 1985, it was to teach junior high students at Cathedral School, and to teach computer to every grade, K-8. She did the same at Holy Family School Decatur, where she also taught algebra to the eight graders, 1994-2000.

After a year’s sabbatical, Sister Rosemary began a new venture in Springfield. For ten years, 2001-2011, she facilitated an effective program for students with learning difficulties called Effective Learning Solutions. The computer-based program helped create new pathways for learning in the brain. In addition to teaching children using this innovative method Sister Rosemary also employed it effectively for English language learners and persons recovering from stroke.

From 2011-2015, Sister Rosemary worked as a teacher aide at St. Agnes School in Springfield. Since then she has coordinated drivers for sisters’ doctor visits and done other administrative tasks for the sisters at Sacred Heart Convent.

Sister Rosemary’s sisters, Springfield Dominican Sister Bernadette Marie and Patricia Carrothers, and her brothers Daniel and John, share her joy; her parents are deceased.