Isolina Ferré

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Isolina Ferré Aguayo (September 5, 1914 – August 3, 2000) was the sister of Puerto Rico's former governor Luis A. Ferré and a Roman Catholic nun. She was known as the "Mother Teresa of Puerto Rico".

She was born in Ponce, to a wealthy family.^[1] However, she was inclined towards religious life. She joined the Orden De Las Siervas Misioneras De La Santisima Trinidad (Order Of The Missionary Women Of The Holiest Trinity) in 1935.

She attended various universities in the United States,studying sociology and the arts, among other things. She travelled back and forth between Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Eastern Coast of the U.S.A. trying to help the poor.

After a stint as a member of New York City's Committee Against Poverty, to which she was appointed by Mayor John Lindsay, she decided in 1969 to set her permanent residence in Ponce, specifically in the poor sector of La Playa.

Ferré's efforts in La Playa were written a chronicled in Puerto Rican books and newspapers, as well as in publications from other Latin American countries such as the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

She was responsible for opening a small hospital and a school named Centro De Orientacion De La Playa (La Playa Orientation Center) in the area, which would later become Centros Sor Isolina Ferre, an organization dedicated to providing educational courses, extracurricular activities, and day care services to low-income families.

She earned many honorary doctorates from different educational institutes, and her effort was recognized by President Bill Clinton, who awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a ceremony at the White House, an honor previously awarded to her brother, former Governor Luis A. Ferre.

Sor Isolina died shortly before her 87th birthday in Ponce, after more than half a century of public service. She was the aunt of author Dr. Rosario Ferre and a cousin of cellist Pablo Casals.

[edit] See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans

[edit] References