Anne-Marie Soulliere ’69

I was inspired to enroll at Wellesley by my mother Anna Marie O’Connor, class of 1935, and other alumnae relatives whose Wellesley educations led them to explore the world and serve others in the education and nonprofit sectors. Most intriguing was my mother’s cousin Sister Mary Caritas Margaret McCabe, class of 1914. With her sister Evelyn, class of 1916, she marched in Boston’s suffragette parades. Eight years after graduation she entered the Maryknoll order, earned a master’s degree, and in 1926 she became the first president of the Maryknoll Normal School (now Miriam College) in Malabon, Philippines. Traveling through Asia, she further educated herself while mentoring the school’s young women students. In WWII she was among 2,147 internees at the Los Banos prison camp, rescued in the famous raid on February 25, 1945. She resolutely returned to the Philippines continuing her work, modeling “non ministrari sed ministrare” for life.