- Date Of Birth: May 20, 1928
- Date Of Death: December 3, 2021
- State: New Jersey
A Life of Meaning.
It is with both sweet sorrow and in the firm belief in The Resurrection that on December 2, 2021, we bid Godspeed to our family matriarch, Doris Murtagh (nee’ Peterson) a.k.a. Sister Victoria of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who was summoned by her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to lay down her earthly burdens and claim her eternal reward.
Doris was born in the Bronx, NY on May 20, 1928, eldest child of William and Susan Peterson (nee’ Walker). She attended Manhattanville College on a full nursing scholarship and after graduation in 1951 married her sweetheart, WW2 D-Day combat veteran John Murtagh. She worked faithfully for the next 37 years as dedicated wife, loving mother, pillar of St. Francis parish in Ridgefield Park, NJ, and one of the most highly regarded and frequently requested private duty nurses at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital Harkness Pavilion.
It was during then that she and her husband John gave life to, and lovingly raised, a family of 8 successful sons and 4 beautiful daughters.
Sr. Victoria is survived by her children, John and his wife Susan, Patrick and his wife Dawn, Christopher and his wife Polychronia, Judith Givas and her husband Samuel, David and his wife Eileen, Catherine Ahearn and her husband John, Mary Greene and her husband David, Matthew and his wife Marie, Susan Calabrese and her husband Stephen, Paul and his wife Christina, William and his wife Michelle, her brother, John Peterson and his wife Angela, half-sister, Regina Forni, 35 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and 4 nieces and nephews, She was predeceased by her husband John, her son, Michael and his wife Judith, and brothers, Raymond and William Peterson, Jr.
She will be remembered by all who met her for her quick wit, comforting smile, goodness of heart, agreeable nature, practical mind, remarkable inner strength, and Christ-centered life despite her myriad life challenges. Although her footsteps will soon fade away on her march into Eternity, her remarkable story will remain a living testimony that, to have chosen a life of love and service is to have lived a life of meaning. May her memory be eternal.
