Community Corner

Southampton Road Dedicated to Sister Jackie

Town hopes gesture keeps Syosset nun's memory alive and reminds drivers to slow down.

By Taylor K. Vecsey

The Water Mill street where a 59-year-old nun lost her life in a hit-and-run accident last summer has been unofficially renamed in her memory. 

Signs that read "Sister Jackie's Way" were recently installed on both ends of Rose Hill Road — one on the corner of Montauk Highway and another at the South Halsey Lane intersection. 

RelatedUpdate: Syosset Nun Killed in Hit-and-Run Accident l International Manhunt for Hit-and-Run Driver l Syosset Mourns Beloved Sister Jackie 

Southampton Town Highway Superintendent Alex Gregor said the new name is a secondary one — no addresses have changed — but he hopes the signage helps keep Sister Jackie Walsh's spirit and the case alive.

"The town, and especially the highway department, cares and we don't want to forget Sister Jackie," Gregor said, adding that he didn't know her, but that the tragic way in which she died has stayed with him for over a year. 

Sister Jackie, a Syosset resident who was staying at a Sisters of Mercy retreat house on Rose Hill Road, was out for an evening walk when she was hit on July 9, 2012. A passerby discovered her at about 8:30 p.m., and an SUV with front-end damage with later found abandoned nearby. The suspect, Carlos Armando Ixpec-Chitay, is believed to have fled the country.

Gregor said it's important that Sister Jackie not be forgotten. He hopes that having the sign, particularly on the corner of Rose Hill Road and Montauk Highway, will serve as a reminder to driver to use caution. "I hope people go by and take a second and think and slow down," he said. 

He also hopes that anyone with information about the suspect's whereabouts will feel a sense of guilt seeing the constant reminder of Sister Jackie and come forward. "There's a lot of unanswered questions down there," he said. 

"I was very touched when I saw it," said Sister Mary Harvey, one of the nuns who lives at the Water Mill house year-round. "I didn't know he was going to do it. Everyone thought it was very nice gesture," she said. 

A street in Syosset that borders St. Edward the Confessor schooll, where Sister Jackie worked, was dedicated to her last year. It is called Sister Jackie Walsh Way.

Gregor said he initially hoped to install a sidewalk on the one-mile long Rose Hill Road to make it safer for pedestrians, but he did not receive support from residents. He said there is ample room for a sidewalk without having to encroach on private property. 

Over the past year, he said he's gotten to know Sister Mary well. "I'm in charge of the roads and when people die on them, I take it rather personally," he said. "A year went by and I was still saddened. So I thought, 'What can we do?'" 

He surprised Sister Mary with the signs about two weeks ago. 

"I received a beautiful card from all the sisters — you can't imagine how happy I felt," he said. 


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