Marmion Academy headmaster heading to Seattle next year

Marmion Academy Headmaster John Milroy is stepping down at the end of the school year to take a job near Seattle.

Milroy will become head of school at Villa Academy, a Catholic school for children in preschool through eighth grade.

The move will put him close to his daughter and son-in-law, who live just north of Seattle, Wash., according to a news release from Marmion.

Milroy was appointed as Marmion's first lay headmaster in 2003. He has taught at the school since 1991, and is a 1979 graduate of the boys Catholic college-preparatory school.

“This decision has been difficult but carefully considered,” Milroy said in a prepared statement. “I have lived in the Batavia-Aurora area my whole life and, in a way, I have grown up at Marmion. I sat in the Lake Street gymnasium watching basketball games as a child of 7 or 8, and rode my bicycle to this present campus to watch football games as a boy of 12 or 13. I have walked our hallways and sat in our classrooms as a student, parent, faculty member and administrator; I have always been proud of my affiliation with the Marmion community and have always been proud to call myself a Marmion Cadet.”

Marmion will form a search committee to select the next headmaster.