St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Honors Teachers Retiring with over 80 Years of Combined Teaching Experience

HOLLAND PA:  Two Catholic School teachers are retiring from St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School after a combined 81 years of teaching. Kathy Zimmerman and Kathy Mercurio knew from an early age that they wanted to be teachers. Now, the Dynamic Duo has decided it is time to retire.

On the last day of school, Zimmerman will retire after 49 years of teaching in grades 1-6. Zimmerman, who completed her Bachelors Degree and graduate credits at Holy Family University, began her teaching career at St. Ignatius School in Yardley, PA in 1969 before moving on to St. Thomas Aquinas School in Croydon, PA, and finally landing at St. Bede the Venerable School in Holland in 1981. (St. Bede the Venerable merged with Assumption BVM Catholic School in Feasterville, PA to form St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School in 2012.)

Mercurio, who holds her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from the Pennsylvania State University, is retiring with 32 years under her belt as a Catholic School teacher. She began her teaching career in 1973 at St. Anthony Catholic School in Falls Church, VA before moving to Pennsylvania to teach in Queen of the Universe Catholic School in Levittown, PA, and St. Thomas Aquinas School in Croydon, PA. With almost 10 years teaching experience, Mercurio began teaching at St. Bede the Venerable School in 1992.
The St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Community will honor Zimmerman and Mercurio at the end of the school year Mass on June 15, 2018 at 9am in St. Bede the Venerable Church located at 1071 Holland Road in Holland, PA. At the mass, students and teachers will share memories that they have from both teachers, the school choir will perform, and Monsignor John Marine and Reverend Michael Davis, the Pastors of the school’s legacy parishes, will say a blessing over the new retirees. Laura Clark, the principal at St. Katharine Drexel School, will also present the teachers with a special gift honoring their service to Catholic Education and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The faculty, staff, administration, students, and the entire school community thank our retirees and wish them the best in the next phase of their lives.