![Sister Virginia Young, SSJ](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=150%2C224 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=200%2C299 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=225%2C336 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=300%2C449 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=400%2C598 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=540%2C807 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=640%2C957 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=750%2C1121 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=990%2C1480 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C1548 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1b/d1b3c2d6-3286-11ef-93c0-f3fc7d6977b2/667a0a52d4560.image.jpg?resize=1177%2C1760 1200w)
May 9, 1931 – June 19, 2024Sister Virginia A. Young, SSJ, a teacher and administrator for more than 40 years at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf along with her identical twin sister, Loretta, died June 19 in Mercy Hospital after several years of declining health. She was 93.
Dr. Betsy McDonald, a trustee at St. Mary’s, said following her death: “A kinder, fiercer advocate for deaf people could not be found anywhere.”
Born in Buffalo, the daughter of Robert and Ethel Griffiths Young and one of five children, she grew up on Darwin Drive in Snyder. She and her twin sister graduated in 1948 from Mount St. Joseph’s Academy and entered the Sisters of St. Joseph together in September of that year. They jointly pronounced their final vows in August 1954.
Sister Virginia received a bachelor’s degree in education of the deaf from Buffalo State Teachers College, now Buffalo State University, in 1951. She and her sister both earned bachelor’s degrees in education from Mount St. Joseph’s Teacher’s College, later Medaille College, in 1959. They also both completed master’s degrees in education and guidance of the deaf at Northwestern University in 1963.
Sister Virginia began teaching elementary and high school classes at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf in 1950, taught at Our Lady of Victory Academy from 1966 to 1969, then returned to St. Mary’s.
She went on to serve as supervisor of the Secondary Department, academic vice principal, director and assistant to the principal. Her sister taught elementary grades and was elementary principal.
When she and her sister retired in 1994, St. Mary’s established the Sister Loretta Young Elementary Academic Achievement Award and the Sister Virginia Young Secondary Academic Achievement Award.
In honor of their service to the school and the deaf community, St. Mary’s renamed its main building assembly hall the Young Assembly Hall in 2014.
Participating in an affiliation between St. Mary’s and Canisius College from its start in 1963, Sister Virginia was an adjunct professor at the college, teaching American Sign Language, the history of deaf education and graduate level courses on methods of teaching the deaf. She served as acting director of the Teacher of the Deaf Preparation Program.
Sister Virginia gave numerous presentations on deafness and deaf education throughout the country. She also led sign language classes for police, hospital workers and other groups.
She served on the boards of St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, Baker Hall, Our Lady of Victory Infant Home, Mount St. Joseph Academy and the Quota Club of Buffalo.
She was honored with the St. Mary’s Communicator Award in 1989 and the Buffalo Optimist Club’s Achievements in Education award in 1994.
Survivors include many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Her sister Loretta died in 2020.
An American Sign Language interpreted Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Thursday in Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church, 8500 Main St. at Harris Hill Road, Clarence.