Sr Doreen Cuschieri, Provincial of the Sisters of St Dorothy writes:
Sr Denise Wood, an artist and a mathematician, was educated by the Sisters of St Joseph and St Dorothy. In her early 20s, she joined the Dorotheans in Rome where she qualified as a music teacher. She obtained her RAFB diploma in Bologna and a BA in education from the Unites States.
During her early years as a religious, she was in charge of a group of boarders in our School in “Sant’-Onofrio” in Rome. There she taught English, music and catechism in nearby parishes where most of our sisters spent their afternoons with the large number of children who flocked to their parish after school.
In 1963, she was transferred to Malta where she helped out in our school in Sliema and later on in the Mdina secondary school where she taught maths, Italian, English, needlework and gave piano lessons after school. She also spent a couple of months in our hostel helping with the young orphans whom we took care of for a few years.
It was mostly during these years I got to know Denise and appreciated the humble and low profile she kept. Sr Wood, as we called her then, was an excellent teacher who made sure she passed on her enthusiasm and knowledge to one and all. Even though she was soft-spoken and shy by nature she had a keen sense of humour, especially when a certain rapport had been established with her.
As a young sister, I often used to see Denise buried behind a mountain of exercise books and lying beside them would be her knitting bag, which she picked up whenever she needed a break. She would quietly go through one row after the other, eager to complete some baby’s clothing to be sent to the missions. Knitting was one of the hobbies that kept her busy until her last days. During table-top sales, her items would sell first because of precision and tidiness.
Making rosary beads for our First Holy Communicants in Frognal, another community we have in Hampstead, London, was one of her priorities. She made sure that just before Christmas she would have all her rosaries prepared in boxes ready to be sent over to the sister in charge. Her artistic talent was very visible in her needlework. She embroidered lovely altar clothes, which we still treasure in some of our convent chapels, with the autumn colours blended so gracefully beneath the altar vessels, especially when she prepared these linen drapes for the different liturgical seasons.
Denise was also remarkable for order and punctuality. Her personality transpired discipline. Her day was programmed from early morning when she used to be the first sister in chapel for meditation. While she was in America teaching in high school, her students remarked about her spirit of prayer – the way she spent most of her free time in chapel when she was not on duty in class. Students often admired her for her exemplary attitude towards duty. However, her attitude was always a positive one; she rarely resorted to punishments and very often cracked a joke to call us back to duty.
During one of our General Chapters in Rome in 1975 she was elected as Counsellor to Mother General. During her six years in office she made sure Malta was given its due attention and I recall how she unfailingly met me at the airport whenever I went to Rome for some course or meeting. On one occasion, there was a long delay in one of my flights. It was 2 a.m. when I landed at Fiumicino Airport and she was there waiting for me, worried that something might have happened to me. That noble gesture of hers touched me to the core and I still feel I owe her so much in return.
After her term of office as counsellor in Rome, she was elected Provincial in Malta and, later on, Superior in Sliema, Mdina and Redhill in the United Kingdom. (Here, I wish to explain that Malta and the United Kingdom form one Province in the Dorothean world.) As Provincial, she was exemplary in every way. She was a great organiser and was courageous enough to start planning our new school complex in Żebbuġ. Education was always a priority for her and she made every effort to bring about a healthy learning environment for all our students in the three different schools. Being a leader by nature, she helped our communities to grow healthily. Her example motivated us to pray assiduously and work without counting the cost.
Denise has indeed had a very marked impact in our Province and it will take us time to realise she is no longer here! May the Lord who has endowed her with so many talents accept her in his Kingdom for an eternity of joy and happiness with Him whom she loved so dearly.