McConaughy, Sister Margaret Teresa

An oral history of Sister Margaret Teresa McConaughy, a Sister of Charity of Seton Hill from 1922 until 1997. The interview was conducted by Sister Marie Corona Miller on September 9, 1986.

Sister Margaret Teresa McConaughy was born on March 18, 1906 in McKees Rocks, Pa. Daughter of Thomas B. McConaughy and Margaret Teresa Powers, Mary Teresa McConaughy entered the community on December 8, 1922 as Sister Margaret Teresa McConaughy.

Sister Margaret Teresa served as a renowned music teacher and high school teacher in schools throughout Western Pennsylvania for 44 years. Among the schools she worked at were St. John the Baptist School, Pittsburgh; St. James School, West End, Pittsburgh, and Elizabeth Seton High School, Pittsburgh. She also worked as a librarian in the 1970s, where she wrote book reviews for Catholic Library World. In her later years, she assisted elder sisters at Assumption Hall, Greensburg; and St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality, Pittsburgh.

Sister Margaret Teresa earned her B.S. in Music Education with a minor in Piano from Duquesne University in 1943 and earned her M.S. in these subjects from Duquesne in 1948. She was intermittent president of Pittsburgh’s National Catholic Music Education Association from 1943 to 1960 and served as its secretary-treasurer. At the House of Hospitality, she was well-known for baking bread.

Sister Margaret Teresa McConaughy passed away on November 7, 1997 at the age of 91.