Teaching Assistant Celebrates 96th Birthday With Hampton Bays Students and Staff

When Sarah Cunliffe retired nearly two decades ago as director of religion at St. Rosalie Roman Catholic Church in Hampton Bays after 25 years, she knew she’d need something else to occupy her time.

So, when Cunliffe saw an ad for a teacher’s assistant at Hampton Bays Elementary School, she eagerly applied — and was hired nearly on the spot.

On Tuesday, students, staff and administrators came together to celebrate Cunliffe’s 96th birthday, and her 18 years and counting of school service.

“I was climbing the walls,” she recalled, laughing. “I’m just so happy to be here — I feel so lucky. There are so many people working at something that they’re not thrilled with doing. I love being with the kids, and I think that’s what helps keep me going.”

Cunliffe was born in Southampton in 1927. Her uncles, Sam and Harry, owned a barber shop in town. At 16, she could be found helping nuns at what is now Southampton Village’s Basilica Parish of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

She moved to Hampton Bays, where she still resides, in 1956. Her eldest daughter, Jacquelynn, is a psychologist in Pennsylvania. Her son, Joseph, is a renowned Maryland-based musician who has performed for presidents, dignitaries and public personalities like Oprah Winfrey, James Galway and Danny Glover. Her youngest daughter, Theresa Conway, lives in Hampton Bays and is a court clerk for the Village of Quogue.

She said her tight-knit family, including her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, came together over the weekend for a birthday party.

“We’re just so fortunate and so blessed to have Sarah as a member of the team, and we’re so happy to recognize her today for being such an outstanding employee and always being so dedicated and reliable — someone you can always count on,” said Hampton Bays Elementary School Principal Marc Meyer, who met Cunliffe when she entered the district back in 2005. “She’s such a wonderful, warm, kind person, and it wouldn’t be Hampton Bays Elementary School without her.”

Meyer called Cunliffe’s decades of service incredible and an inspiration for anyone. When he thinks back on fond memories of the teaching assistant, he is immediately reminded of how kind she is to every kindergartner that comes into the cafeteria to each lunch for the very first time.

“She makes them feel welcome on their first day of school,” the principal said. “She treats them all like they’re her own children.”

Hampton Bays Superintendent Lars Clemensen knows a thing or two about that. Cunliffe, who was friends with his grandmother, Kathleen Cunningham Smith, helped him make his First Holy Communion and Confirmation at St. Rosalie’s.

“He’s such a great, great person,” Cunliffe said. “I just love him.”

Eileen McPhelin, who was a Catechist, or religion teacher, at St. Rosalie’s, has known the former director of religion for three decades. She called Cunliffe devoted, adding she was also a great teacher of faith to the children.

“She was a good director, she was organized, knew how to help me explain things well and was very prayerful,” McPhelin said. “She used to sing in the church choir, too, and helped thousands of children receive their sacrament.”

The former Catecist said when she heard Cunliffe was going to be a teachers assistant, she thought it was the perfect move.

“She’s so sweet and caring,” McPhelin said. “It seemed like a very good place to be because she cared for kids so much, so she’d still get to be around children, many of whom already knew her.”

Clemensen said Cunliffe has not only been a fixture in his life and at the school, but in the community.

“When I came here to be an administrator and she was working here, I thought, ‘This makes sense. This is Hampton Bays,’” he said with a chuckle. “She’s so loving and so kind. It’s exactly who you want your children to be with every single day.”

The teaching assistant said education has come a long way since she was a child.

“The kids were seen and not heard,” she said. “Today, the kids have a way of expressing themselves, which is wonderful.”

Cunliffe works three and a half hours a day, five days a week. She said she was shocked when kindergartners funneled into the cafeteria on Tuesday to sing “Happy Birthday” and present her with handmade cards and cupcakes. She told the students, some of whom call her “grandma,” to come around close and rejoice, and they marched out still singing her well-wishes.

“I couldn’t believe this,” she said, smiling. “This is amazing — just amazing.”

Cunliffe said she felt that same excitement when she finally returned to school following the COVID-19 pandemic-related shutdown.

“I spoke to my doctor and asked if it was OK if I go back to work, and he told me that I better get back to work,” she said, laughing. “I was deteriorating.”

Cunliffe said she has no plans to retire any time soon, either.

“No way,” she cried. “I’m going to retire when I go down,” Cunliffe said, pointing to the ground.

Clemensen said when speaking with Cunliffe earlier Tuesday morning, his teaching assistant said she’s looking to retire when she reaches her centennial birthday.

“She’s the heart of Hampton Bays — 96 years old is a feat in a lot of ways, but a 96-year-old with near-perfect attendance is something you don’t always see,” Clemensen said. “She told me today she’s going for 100 — but, hopefully, it’s even longer than that.”