Margaret Reese Williamson, CNR SAS ‘75

Retired School Principal

 

Over the past 45 years, Margie has worked in various teaching and administrative capacities in the Archdiocese of Hartford at Notre Dame Academy of Waterbury, Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford and St. Mary’s School in Simsbury.

Margie earned her BA and MA in French from the College of New Rochelle and The Catholic University of America respectively, and her Sixth Year Degree in Educational Administration from the University of Connecticut. Margie has been active in the CIAC (Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference) since the early 2000s. She currently chairs the Girls’ Lacrosse Committee and the Girls’ Basketball Committee. She has previously served on the Eligibility Committee, the Eligibility Review Committee and the Board of Control. Since 2019, Margie has been a member of the Commission on Independent Schools, a division of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. 

During her 29 years at Northwest Catholic, Margie served on building and renovation committees that celebrated the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the school’s founding. These improvements included the addition of the Breen Center for the Arts, the Stosuy Gymnasium and the Fr. Colton Atrium as well as renovations of all classrooms, the Gelormino Library, the Johnson Gymnasium and the Rice Auditorium. In addition, the school added athletic field space, improved existing athletic facilities and replaced the bleachers at Neil J. Brewer Field. Upon arriving at St. Mary’s School, she participated on the planning and building committee for a $4 million construction project known at the Parish Connection or Magowan Center.  

At Northwest Catholic Margie oversaw tremendous growth in the Advanced Placement program and assisted in taking strategic steps to support athletes who wished to play sports at the college level. A highlight of her time leading curriculum efforts was the schoolwide Holocaust Education Project which culminated in a presentation at the NCEA Convention in 2000. With her love of travel and ability to speak French, Margie helped to chaperone several student trips abroad over the years at Notre Dame Academy and at Northwest Catholic. 

Margie is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Honorary Doctorate from the University of St. Joseph, induction into the CIAC Hall of Honor, the NCEA Catholic Secondary Education Award and Archdiocesan Distinguished Catholic School Administrator Award. Margie received a CAS citation in 2018, a letter of commendation in 2013 and she was honored to have the 2009 CIAC Girls Basketball Tournament dedicated to her. Margie is also an Honorary member of the Northwest Catholic Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame. An endowed scholarship to assist students with the cost of tuition was established in 2016 in recognition of Margie’s dedication to Northwest Catholic.  Under her leadership, St. Mary’s School received the Blue-Ribbon Award for Excellence in Education from the US Department of Education in 2018.

Her seven years at St. Mary’s School also included the period of the COVID19 pandemic. During this time Margie led a cooperative effort with the faculty and staff to continue to provide an excellent education remotely for several months but with a full in-person teaching and learning program as of September 2020. 

A devoted Catholic, Margie participated for 10 years in the music ministry at St. Helena parish and she has continued serving as a lector at St. Mary’s parish. Married to Brian for 45 years, Margie is the mother of three Northwest Catholic graduates, Patrick, Meghan and Kate; the mother-in-law of Irene Williamson and Nicholas Lawson; and the loving grandmother of Lucia, Thomas, Connor and Mariella. 

In 2023, Elissa headlined throughout NYC at festivals like the DOT Summer Streets, and Bronx and Queens Night Markets, and toured with her band in New Orleans last year. She now performs tributes to legendary singers Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan through commissions from Bronx Council on the Arts, and was the 2023 artist-in-residence at William Hodson Senior Center, widely recognized as the first senior center in the U.S. This summer, she joins Morrisania Band Project for the 2023 Evolution of Soul, a series of live concerts throughout NYC.