Corazon Gracia Bilano, retired First Grade Teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Raleigh was presented with the first Monsignor Gerald Lawrence Lewis Award for Lifetime Achievement in Catholic Education on March 13, 1999, at a Call to Jubilee celebration being held at St. Raphael Church in Raleigh.

In her comments announcing the inauguration of the Lifetime Achievement component of the Lewis Award, Anne Stahel, Award chair, noted that as the Excellence in Teaching Award was limited to full-time classroom teachers, long range plans had been put in place at the time of the Lewis Award’s institution in 1992 to be a means of honoring any individual in the Diocesan school system, whether the individual be classroom teachers, administration or staff.

Sr. Mary Therese Grady, SND, then principal of Lourdes School, said of Ms. Bilano, “She is probably one of the most outstanding teachers I have ever seen teach. She’s a person who does everything needed to help a child learn. She is a master teacher”.

Ms. Bilano, who retired after 40 years of teaching, is quite active in the Hispanic community, and served for many years as the volunteer Hispanic coordinator at Sacred Heart Cathedral. She continues to be very active in many aspects of her church and civic communities.

Ms. Bilano lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.