Assunta schools’ pioneer Sister Enda Ryan dies at 95
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PETALING JAYA: Sister Enda Ryan, the founder and former headmistress of the Assunta all-girls schools here, died at 11am today.
She was 95.
Her passing was confirmed by Sister Elizabeth Tan of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM), the Catholic religious order which Sister Enda joined in 1947.
“It is with a heavy heart that I share the news of our beloved Sister Enda’s passing from this world,” Tan said in a statement today.
Sister Enda was best known for founding the Assunta primary and secondary schools here. She also assisted her FMM sisters in the growth of Ave Maria Clinic, which eventually grew to become what is known today as Assunta Hospital.
A website dedicated to SMK Assunta alumni stated that Sister Enda was born as Eileen Philomena Ryan on Dec 30, 1928 in Ireland.
After graduating from the National University of Ireland in 1954 with a Bachelor in Arts and Higher Diploma in Education, she arrived in then-Malaya following a request by Michael Hogan (the then-Chief Justice of Malaya) to set up schools to cater for girls whose education had been disrupted during the first communist insurgency.
She immediately helped establish the Assunta primary school and covered the primary school syllabus for the older girls to enable them to sit for their secondary school entry exams in 1957.
Assunta secondary school was established in 1958 and Sister Enda became the first headmistress of the school.
She also composed the school song which Assuntarians (as the alumni are called) sing till today.
Sister Enda became a Malaysian citizen in October 1966 and received numerous awards throughout her 31 years of service before retiring in 1989.
Among them are the Excellent Service Award from the education ministry (1985), the Pingat Jasa Cemerlang (1986), the Pingat Jasa Kebaktian (PJK) from the Sultan of Selangor (1987), and the Anugerah Tokoh Guru Selangor (1990).
In December 2007, Sister Enda was conferred the Darjah Kebesaran Dato’ Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah (DSIS) by the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, which carries the title “Datin Paduka”.
The details of her wake and funeral services will be announced by FMM once it is finalised.
FMM is a Catholic religious order founded in India in 1877. The Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur’s website states that FMM missionaries form an international religious congregation of women representing 78 nationalities spread over 77 countries in five continents.
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