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.