Sr. Kathleen Crowley was born in Macroom, County Cork, Ireland, in February 1940. She was one of a family of four, two boys and two girls. Kathleen was educated locally, both at nursery and Primary level followed by a Secretarial Course in the Technical College there.
She entered MMM in Drogheda in October 1960. After her initial formation period, postulancy and novitiate, her first assignment was to the office in the Maternity Hospital. She was an excellent Receptionist and Secretary, very sociable and very understanding of the patients and their families as they came in and out.
Her first overseas assignment came in 1973. It was to the Turkana Desert in Kenya. There she was involved in a wide variety of activities. In Turkana she worked with women’s’ groups teaching them skills like Mandaleo. This craft work enabled them to make beautiful baskets and other items which they were then able to sell, thus providing them with some income. She was also coordinator of Women’s’ groups helping in their education and development.
She was Administrator in Kakuma Hospital for some months.
For four years she combined the ministries of Diocesan Secretary and Medical Coordinator of the Health Centre. When Lodwar was handed over to the Diocese in 2009, Kathleen moved to Nairobi and became the Marketing and Sales Manager for Turkana Women’s groups until 2013.
She was also Regional Secretary in Nairobi for four years.
Kathleen was a great character – full of personality, highly sociable and passionate in her love for Irish games, hurling and football, especially when Cork was playing and preferably winning!
In 2013 Kathleen began to have health issues and was assigned to Beechgrove where she worked in Áras Mhuire and helped generally in the house. But in 2017 her health began to deteriorate further, and she was admitted to Áras Mhuire in February 2018 for much needed care. She was happy in Aras Mhuire and had many happy times there before her final illness. Her general condition worsened somewhat unexpectedly on April 26th, and she slipped away quietly on April 27th.
She is buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery, Drogheda.
Sr. Brigid Egbuna was born in Calabar in March 1954, one of a pair of identical twins, and had her early education in Onitcha and her secondary education with the Holy Child Sisters in Ikot Ekpene and Abakaliki. She joined MMM in 1973, straight from school.
After Profession of Vows, she trained as a nurse in Anua and as a midwife in Afikpo. Her first assignment was to Angola, so she first went to Portugal to study Portuguese and the worked in Angola for ten years, both in Chiulo Hospital and in Lubango which was more focused in primary health care.
On her return to Nigeria, she worked in Amukoko Community Health Project and then became matron of Abakaliki Hospital for six years. In 2001 she had a short break. She was able to visit family in the USA and have some time for personal renewal in Little Falls MN.
Back in Nigeria she worked for some years in administrative roles in both Urua Akpan and Abuja before being assigned to Zaffe in the Republic of Benin. Here she worked for several years before returning to Nigeria only recently. At the time of her unexpected death following surgery in Eleta, Ibanan, she was working in Codusow, Benin City. She died on March 17th, 2025. Her funeral Mass in the MMM Chapel in Benin City was on April 3rd, 2025 followed by burial in the MMM plot.
Sr. Brigid was known as a quiet, reliable, “solid” woman who took responsibility well. She will be dearly missed. May she rest in peace.
Sr. Ursula Cott, baptised Elizabeth, was born in Ballyclough, County Cork, in August 1940 and her early education was in the local schools.
Sr. Ursula joined MMM in 1959 when she was eighteen. Soon after her initial formation period was over, she went to Dublin and studied at Cathal Brugha Technical College for aa institutional management certificate. Then she was the Catering Supervisor in the IMTH Hospital (now Our Lady of Lourdes) for three years. After this assignment she transferred to Waterford and was Catering Supervisor at Airmount Maternity Hospital for a further three years.
In 1971, Sr. Ursula went to Nigeria, to Abakaliki and Ogoja, where she was responsible for Women’s Training Programmes. In 1978, she was requested for Mission Promotion work in USA. Based in Chicago, she coordinated Mission Development in the Mid-West region for four years.
In 1984, Sr. Ursula went to Brazil, first to the city of Sao Paulo, and later in the northeastern State of Bahia. In Bahia she worked in Paraiso de Jacobina, Salvador and Feira de Santana. In all the communities in Brazil, Sr. Ursula worked in pastoral care and human development. Her particular attention was to the empowerment and on-going education of women. She was known to be a tenacious campaigner for women’s rights and yet, knew how to relax and she had a great sense of humour. She was a practical, down to earth person with a great love for the poor.
In 2012, Sr. Ursula went to USA, where she cared for our elderly and frail Sisters in the Somerville MA community. She also did pastoral work in Malden for some months. In 2016, she returned to Ireland and continued caring for the elderly until her own health needs became more pressing.
Finally, she transferred to Áras Mhuire Nursing Home in 2020. Her health deteriorated slowly, and her death came peacefully on February 6th during the night. Her Funeral Mass was celebrated on February 11th in the Motherhouse and her cremation service in Dardistown, Dublin.
16 April 1921 – 03 February 2025
Sr. Pauline Dean was born in Liverpool, England, in 1921. Her parents were Irene (née Lloyd) and Richard Dean, and she had one brother, Jeffrey (or Geoffrey), and one sister, Helen. Both have predeceased her. Pauline was a highly gifted person and has lived an amazingly fruitful life.
She was educated locally and then attended Liverpool University where she qualified as a medical doctor in 1945. She worked in different hospitals in the U.K., gaining experience and then she went to the U.S.A. for post-graduate studies in Paediatrics. It was there that she appeared to become interested in Religious Life. She was in dialogue with one missionary Congregation while at the same time attending theology lectures in a Dominican Institute. By happy coincidence or by providence, she had her first contact with MMM while attending these lectures. Sr. Magdalen O’Rourke, founding member of MMM, together with Sr. Teresa Connolly MMM had called there looking for help with a puncture and Pauline got chatting with them. They invited her to visit their community in Winchester, MA, where she immediately felt at home and realised that this was the missionary Congregation she wanted to join.
Postponing her Paediatric studies, she joined MMM in 1953. During her formative years, Pauline worked for four years in the International Missionary Training Hospital (IMTH), (now Our Lady of Lourdes) and then in the Paediatric Unit on the 5th floor for another four years where her skills as a Paediatrician were well known.
In 1967, Sr. Pauline finally received her first overseas missionary assignment to Nigeria. Her first mission was in Anua, a busy general hospital where she initially worked for four years. She also worked in Urua Akpan and Ibadan, again two busy hospitals, at different times, and she stayed in Nigeria through the years of Civil War. Her medical skills were put to good use, but Paediatrics was her chosen speciality and her skills in this field were invaluable with so many babies and children arriving critically ill in search of healing. She spent a total of eleven years in Nigeria.
Family commitments and health issues brought her back to England in 1978 where she cared for her elderly father for a total of nine years. During this time, she was busy producing the PHC Link. This was a monthly publication, presented attractively with drawings (done by herself) and explaining the intricacies of Primary Health Care, a newly developing approach to health care.
In 1988, Pauline was assigned to Nairobi, Kenya, a very different experience to Nigeria. Here she became involved in AIDS Ministry fulltime in the Kibera slum. This disease was relatively new and rampant throughout the world at this time. She worked there for thirteen satisfying years and then moved back to England, to Solihull, Birmingham. She was a part-time pastoral carer in the local hospital; became involved with asylum seekers in a Centre in the parish and she also helped with mission appeals throughout the U.K. These were deeply satisfying years and she was happy.
She finally retired to the Motherhouse in Drogheda in 2013 and then moved over to Aras Mhuire Nursing Home in 2020 as her health needs required. She died peacefully in the early hours of the morning on February 3rd, 2025. She is buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery in Drogheda.
Pauline was a woman of exceptional talent. Not only was she a very good doctor/paediatrician, but she was also a writer, having written several books related to her medical work. She was also artistic, and her landscapes are found in many MMM communities. She was an extremely witty person and a mimic who entertained the Sisters over the years with some hilarious acts. May she rest in God’s peace.
05 November 1925 – 12 January 2025
Sr. Monica Prendergast, baptised Margaret, was born in the small village of Clogheen, near Cahir, Co. Tipperary. She was very close to her family, especially her sisters, Maureen and her twin sister Joan, who never married and remained at the home place their whole lives. Margaret has her early education locally and went into Cahir for her secondary education. She joined MMM immediately after leaving school in 1944. MMM was only seven years founded at this stage and Margaret, taking the name, Sr. M. Monica, became one of the pioneer Sisters.
After her initial religious formation, Sr. Monica did her nurse training. At that time, Part One was done in Drogheda and Part Two in Dublin at St. Vincent’s Hospital. On qualifying, Monica returned to the hospital in Drogheda. She began as a staff nurse, but very soon was appointed Ward Sister, Assistant Matron and Matron of the new I.M.T.H. Hospital (now our Lady of Lourdes), all in quick succession. Her administrative skills were noted early, but more importantly she knew how to relate well with the staff, with the patients and with everyone she came in contact. She was a good listener and always had a word of encouragement.
Sr. Monica remained in Drogheda for fifteen years and it was only in 1968 that she was relieved of her duties there to allow her to take on an overseas mission. Sr. Monica went to Kitovu Hospital in Uganda and over the years there developed a deep love for the country and its people. Within MMM, apart from her nursing duties, she was soon asked to take on Leadership roles, being responsible for three countries in East Africa.
In 1973, she was asked to return to Ireland and take on the leadership of the Motherhouse community. At this time the Motherhouse was still a large community of over 100 sisters. This she did for seven years, returning to Uganda and Masaka community in 1980. In 1985, Monica had to return to Ireland suddenly for emergency eye surgery from which she recovered well, but on her return to Uganda she found herself stranded in Kenya, unable to return to Uganda because of the on-going civil war which had blocked the border crossings. Civil war officially ended in 1986 and Monica was able to travel.
Sr. Monica continued in Uganda, with nursing and pastoral work, right up to 2006 when she was 81. Only then did she finally decide it was time to “retire”. But back in Drogheda she had an active retirement, taking charge of the Stamp Department for many years. She was known as a great letter-writer, and all sisters returning to their missions would certainly be carrying letters from her!
In the early 2020s her health began to fail more, and she went to Aras Mhuire for the extra care she needed. She died unexpectedly but peacefully on January 12th, 2025.
She is buried in Saint Peter’s Cemetery in Drogheda.
6 March 1932 – 16 December 2024
Sr. Lucia, baptised Margaret Mary and known to the family as Rita, was born in Callan, Co. Kilkenny, in March 1932. She was educated locally at the Convent of Mercy schools and then went to Dublin to Jervis Street Hospital, to train as a nurse.
Three years after qualifying as a nurse, Margaret Mary joined MMM in Drogheda. After her initial formation period she made first profession of vows, taking the name of Sr. M. Lucia. She then trained as a midwife and almost immediately assigned on her first overseas mission, to Tanzania. Sr. Lucia spent five years in Tanzania, nursing in both Dareda and Kabanga Hospitals. In Kabanga she also taught nursing and was the hospital Matron. From all accounts she was a gifted nurse and was known for her gentleness.
When she returned to Ireland in 1967, she had the opportunity to specialize in the nursing of sick children in Belfast and then she was assigned to Malawi in 1969. Malawi was to be her main place of ministry for the next thirty-four years.
In Malawi, Sr. Lucia worked in three different locations. In St. John’s Hospital, Mzuzu, she did paediatric nursing, and, later, she taught midwifery and was Matron. She was a talented teacher, and it seemed to come naturally to her. In Nkhata Bay she practiced as a midwife, worked in the Child Welfare clinic and was also Matron. Later she was more involved in primary health care. In Chipini, her last long assignment in Malawi, she did mostly primary health care.
Sr. Lucia finally left Malawi in 2003. After a period of rest and renewal, she worked in Kilmacow, near Waterford where MMM ran a residence for the elderly. When this house closed in 2012, she returned to Drogheda where she had five more years of active retirement in the Motherhouse community before transferring to Aras Mhuire Nursing Home for extra care in 2017.
Sr. Lucia was a quiet, getle and compassionate person, deeply spiritual and totally unassuming. She was especially fond of children and their parents.
Her death came peacefully on December 16th surrounded by family members and several Sisters. She is buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery, Drogheda.
08 December 1938 – 07 December 2024
Sr. Bernie was born in Boston, MA and baptized Mary Ellen. Her early schooling was in Somerville MA, coincidently where MMM came to live later. After leaving school she worked as a dental assistant for a short period before joining MMM in Winchester MA.
After her initial religious formation period, she went to Ireland to study Nursing. When she graduated, she won the top grade in the whole of Ireland! But she did not stay in Ireland long. Once her training as a nurse and midwife were completed, she travelled to Tanzania. Her first mission was in Dareda Hospital. After a short break to upgrade her nursing to degree level in Boston, she was then assigned to Ethiopia. There she worked in Gambo for a short period.
By 1977, Sr. Bernie was back in the USA. After helping in Vocation Promotion work for a year, she found her life’s work when she moved to Appalachia and Virginia in 1978.
MMM came to the Appalachian Mountains at the request of the Richmond Catholic Diocese. Sister Bernie started the program when she began dispensing health care and a kind touch out of her Volkswagen Beetle. In 1980, the Health Wagon was founded by Sr. Bernie Kenny. St. Mary’s Hospital provided a valuable partnership and sponsored the program for over twenty-five years. In 1983, Sr. Bernie upgraded her skills at the Medical College of Virgina becoming a registered Family Nurse Practitioner.
Although Sr. Bernie turned over the reins of the organization in December 2005 her heart and her life remained firmly embedded in Appalachia until she died.
Sister. Bernie also initiated the invitation to the Remote Area Medical project (RAM) coming to the region, an annual three-day open air medical clinic drawing people from the surrounding counties. Sister Bernie continued to use her knowledge of the area, her friendships, and her sills as nurse-practitioner and massage therapist to open up spaces for healing to take place among the Appalachian people. Sister Bernie said, “It’s not about pills. In most health care the emotional part is ignored. Health care is social; it’s a way of identifying what’s inside a person.”
Sister Bernie also co-authored a book with Tauna Gulley, a nursing instructor for the University of Virginia in Wise VA, that explores the concept of care and caring among residents in central Appalachia.
Sister Bernie became seriously ill in early December 2024, and she was moved to Pikeville KY for medical care. She died there peacefully on December 7th, just hours before her 86th birthday. Her funeral Mass was held in Clintwood VA and there was a further celebration of her life in Somerville MA. She is buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden MA.
26.09.1940 – 12.10.2024
Sr. Sheila Berthiaume was born in Canada, but the family moved to USA when she was an infant and made their home in Detroit, Michigan. She was one of four siblings, two girls and two boys. Her early education was in Detroit, and she entered MMM at the age of eighteen.
Already drawn towards the healing profession (she worked as a nurse’s aid part time during her teenage years), she went on to study Medicine in Ireland at University College, Dublin and gained all her post graduate training in the International Missionary Training Hospital (now Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital) in Drogheda. She specialized in surgery and had both paediatric and obstetrical/ gynaecological experience and was a qualified surgeon, FRCS Edinburgh Scotland.
Her assignment to East Africa began in 1970. Most of her work was in Tanzania, in both Makiungu and Dareda Hospitals, but she also had brief periods of relief work in Uganda.
Sr. Sheila was noted for her gentleness and kindness. She loved music and celebrated every holiday with beautiful decorations which she treasured from year to year. She was also very fond of flowers and plants and had a special love for turtles! Her love of music continued right up to the end of her life taking joy tapping her feet and keeping time to the music.
n 1996, Sr. Sheila returned to the USA to care for her elderly father, but afterwards returned to Tanzania and was the surgeon In Makiungu Hospital until she finally returned home in 2012. She cared for her brother, Dick, during his long illness.
Sr. Sheila lived for some years with her brother Gary in Chicago, but as her own health needs became more pressing, she returned to the MMM community in Somerville MA and her final years were in the Mary Immaculate Nursing Care facility in Lawrence, MA. Sr. Joanne Bierl MMM and the staff were with her when she quietly slipped away on October 12th, 2024. She will be deeply missed by her sister Gail and her husband Horst, her brother Gary, and all her family members and by her MMM sisters and the many whose life she touched. Her life was celebrated at a memorial service in Somerville MA on 4 November 2024.
03 March 1945 –28 September 2024
Sr. Mary Ellen Sambuco died peacefully on September 28th in the early morning hours at Sancta Maria Nursing Facility in Cambridge not far from our MMM home in Somerville. She was born in Los Angeles but grew up and had all her early education in Irwin, Pennsylvania. After leaving school she studied for Licensed Practical Nursing, graduating in 1965. She worked for three years in paediatrics and obstetrical nursing on a Sioux Indian reservation in South Dakota. It was there she met the Benedictine Sisters, and it was their mentoring and friendship that helped her find her way to MMM in Winchester MA in 1968. It was there as well that she developed an appreciation and love for indigenous American Indian culture and spirituality that was a part of her throughout her life.
From early days her many gifts were appreciated. She had a lovely singing voice and could play the guitar. She was kind and gentle. She also had a good sense of humour and a hearty laugh. One of her favorite musicians/singers was Pavarotti and his music gave her great peace and had a special place in her collection.
After her initial religious formation, she went to Northeastern University and graduated as a Registered Nurse. Then she went to Ireland and England for her Midwifery training and British registration which she would need for her future work in Malawi.
Sr. Mary Ellen went to Malawi in 1978 and began work in St. John’s Hospital in Mzuzu. She also worked both in Nkhata Bay and in Chipini. She worked in maternal and child health, and she had special skills and a gift in working with premature babies.
In 1992 she returned to USA. Her ministry during the following years was divided between assignments of maternal health and childcare, visiting families and community nursing and she had a special gift for working with children with special needs. Growing up she had one younger brother Sonny, who had Down’s Syndrome. Sonny was very special in her life, and she took responsibility for Sonny after their mother died. He was a beautiful soul and gave her a special love for all those with special needs.
Her final thirteen years were spent in the city of Somerville Housing Authority senior living center and she lived out her healing charism with the residents there and with music therapy for autistic children and visiting the elderly.
In September 2024 she needed hospice care as she was gravely ill. The Sisters in the MMM house in Somerville accompanied and nursed her during these final days of her journey of life. Her memorial service, the celebration of her life, and her burial took place in Somerville 0n 4th November 2024.
May Sr. Mary Ellen rest in eternal peace surrounded by her beloved brother Sonny, and her many friends and family who have gone before her.
Sr. Renee, baptised Bridget Mary, was born in 1943 in Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim. She studied at local schools and at the age of seventeen was invited by relatives to the USA. There, for some years she worked as a bank teller in a bank in New York, but all the while discerning her vocation to religious life.
She joined MMM in America in 1964 and had her early formation years in Winchester MA. On returning to Ireland in 1967 she spent the next nine years training as nurse and midwife, studying theology and gaining some experience in the nursing field. She even had the privilege of nursing Mother Mary Martin, our foundress, for a year.
In 1977 she went to Malawi. Initially she was assigned to a remote clinic in Nkhata Bay, but after three years moved to St. John’s Hospital in Mzuzu. Here she was staff nurse and later matron of the hospital. At the same time, she was being called to MMM leadership at local level.
In 1985 her years in Malawi came to an abrupt halt when she was elected to the Central Leadership Team, at that time located in Mell, Drogheda. Later the Team moved to Dublin and Sr. Renee remained in Central Leadership for a full twelve years. In 1997 she was able to have some time for personal renewal in USA before being called to a new MMM adventure.
In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch, MMM decided to open a mission in Honduras and Sr. Renee was one of the founding members. She studied language in Mexico first and stayed in Honduras from 1998 right up to the closure of this mission at the end of 2021.
She loved her work in Honduras. She was a coordinator of a Pastoral Health Care Programme at parish level both in Marcala and in Choloma, programmes that integrated primary health care with pastoral work.
Sr. Renee was a gentle person, but one with a great sense of humour. She also had an innate wisdom and was a good friend.
In 2021, knowing that her time in Honduras would be ending soon, she volunteered for a new multi-cultural community that was being formed on the outskirts of Drogheda. Unfortunately, her health deteriorated, and she was unable to join this new venture. After some months of care in the clinic in Beechgrove, she was admitted to hospital and died peacefully on 28th July 2023 and is buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery.
