Sister Virginia Young, SSJ  1931-2024

Sister Virginia Young, a devoted minister to the deaf and hard of hearing community for 58 years, died in Mercy Hospital June 19, 2024, after several years of declining health. She was 93.

Sister served in multiple positions at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, teaching elementary and high school subjects from 1950-66. After a brief period of teaching at Our Lady of Victory Academy (1966-1969), she returned to St. Mary’s and became supervisor of the Secondary Department, academic vice principal, director and assistant to the principal. She retired from the school in 1994.

Honoring the many years of service which Sister Virginia and her identical twin, Sister Loretta (who also served at St. Mary’s), dedicated to deaf education, St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, staff and deaf community, the school renamed its main building assembly hall the Young Assembly Hall in 2014.

Participating in a Canisius College-St. Mary’s affiliation from its beginning in 1963, Sister Virginia became an adjunct professor at the college, teaching sign language, the history of deaf education, and graduate-level courses on methods of teaching the deaf.  She soon became acting director of the Teacher of the Deaf Preparation Program and subsequently taught American Sign Language.

Throughout her career, Sister gave multiple presentations throughout the country on deafness and deaf education. She also voluntarily conducted sign language classes for police, hospital workers and other groups.

Timothy Kelly, superintendent of St. Mary’s, described Sister as “great, sweet, caring and Child First,” while Dr. Betsy McDonald, trustee, believes that “a kinder, fiercer advocate for deaf people could not be found anywhere.”

Sister served on the boards of St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, Baker Hall, Our Lady of Victory Infant Home, Mount St. Joseph Academy and the Quota Club of Buffalo. Her recognitions include St. Mary’s Communicator Award (1989) and the Buffalo Optimist Club’s Achievements in Education award (1994).

Born May 9, 1931, in Buffalo to Robert and Ethel (Griffith), Sister Virginia and her identical twin, Sister Loretta, entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in September 1948. The two pronounced their final vows in August 1954. Sister Virginia took the name Sister Robert.

She received a bachelor’s degree in Education of the Deaf from SUNYBuffalo (1951), a bachelor’s degree in education from Medaille College (1959), and a master’s in Education and Guidance of the Deaf from Northwestern University (1963). 

A funeral Mass will be offered and interpreted in American Sign Language Thursday, June 27 at 10 a.m., at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Harris Hill.