School Remembers Its Principal St. Thomas More Community Holds Dear Memories Of Ann Doherty

Taking time to make lunches for teachers on parentteacher conference days.

Helping parents with school tuition by dipping into her own pocket. Remembering the names of every student in her school. Those were some of the reasons Ann Doherty came to be known as “amazing” in her role as principal of St. Thomas More School. Those who knew her agree that whoever is chosen as her replacement will have a very big space to fill.

Doherty died July 2 after a fight with lung cancer. She was 60. After 20 years as a sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia, Doherty came to St. Thomas More School in 1979. At that time, the school had 95 students and a persistent rumor that it was on the verge of closure.

But by 1984, St. Thomas More was serving 200 kids.

“Ann started to do things,” said Doug Banks, the school’s vice principal. “She was simple and quiet, but determined.”

Perhaps it was due to her habit of greeting the children at the school’s front door each day. Or maybe it was the way she was able to lead without commanding. But with Doherty at the helm of St. Thomas More, school was an especially great place to be.

“She ran a good school,” Banks said. “She never solicited funds, but they came. People donated to the school without her asking, because of what she was doing.”

“She had a strong belief that children can know God, but she never preached,” added Kate Bradley, who helped Doherty coordinate religious education for the parish. “She just made opportunities for them to know God.”

Doherty’s school days usually started at 6:30 a.m. and stretched to 4:30 or 5 p.m. After going home for a bit, she’d be back from about 6:30 to 8 p.m. for meetings.

“And that wasn’t just one time, it was all the time,” Banks said. “She was dedicated to the church, the school and the children.”

Others took note of her devotion as well.

Doherty received the Region XII Distinguished Principal Award in 1991 and 1992, and also in 1992, received the Distinguished Principal Award from the National Catholic Education Association.

But Doherty’s generosity and spirit spread far beyond the school walls.

She served on the Washington state Catholic Conference Board and the board of trustees at Gonzaga Preparatory School, and helped organize Jubilee 2000, which drew thousands of Catholics to the Spokane Arena for a massive Pentecost Mass June 11.

Co-workers speak with smiles about her impeccable fashion sense and the annual staff Christmas party she held at her home.

“It was just loads of fun,” Banks said, remembering how Doherty would get every detail just right - from cooking the most delicious dishes to personally buying gifts for all the teachers’ spouses who would attend.

“She always had to kick people out. No one wanted to leave. But she was subtle. She’d always say, `Can I fix you something for the road?”’ Doherty never married, but was welcomed into the family of her sister Regina Russell.

Just 2 years older, Russell said she and Doherty were as close as sisters can be. They could take a trip to Seattle together and not talk almost the whole way, comfortable in each other’s silence, sensing the other’s feelings, she said.

Bradley remembers her as someone who always knew just what to say.

“She walked with people through divorces, deaths of parents and spouses, and rejoiced in births and new jobs,” Bradley said. “She just seemed to understand. She had a way of healing families - she could make things better with a sentence or a phrase.

“She loved us the way God must love us.”

And certainly, that’s one thing that will stay the same.