Sister Patricia (Laurence) was born in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath in 1933. She received her early education in Longford and joined the Medical Missionaries of Mary in 1951. This was just a year before the novitiate was destroyed by fire. As a novice she looked after Mother Mary Martin and learned very much from that experience.
‘Patsy’ did her general nursing training in Drogheda and was one of the first group to graduate from the nurses’ training school there. Previous groups had had to do their training in Dublin.
Sr. Agnes Hinder was born in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland in 1927. She had three sisters and one brother. The family had a beautiful home surrounded by mountains and woods and the children skied to school in the winter. Agnes trained and worked in domestic science for five years before qualifying as a children’s nurse. She worked as a private children’s nurse for four years and then completed studies in general nursing and anaesthetics. She was now a highly qualified nurse and wondered which direction her life should take.
Sister Nancy was born Anne Hilliard in Maio, Moynalty, Co. Meath in 1929, and was one of eleven children. She received her early education in Navan and joined the Medical Missionaries of Mary in 1947.
After qualifying as a physician in UCD, her first assignment was to Tanzania in 1956, where she spent seven years at Chala and Mpanda clinics. In 1963 she responded to a request from Kitovu Hospital in Uganda for a doctor to relieve for a year.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 264
D.O.B. 03.11.1913
First Profession: 06.04.1953
Died: 10.01.1980 Aged: 66 years
Anne came from Athy, Co. Kildare and entered in Clonmel on 1 August 1950.
1937 – September 2019
Sister Phyllis was born Mary Philomena Heaney in Dublin in 1937 and grew up in Kilberry Parish, Proudstown, Navan, County Meath. She was one of four children, two boys and two girls, and was very proud of her Meath origins. Educated by the Sisters of Mercy in Navan, she worked as a shop assistant before joining MMM in 1960.
After profession she spent time in our holiday house in Killybegs, County Donegal, where her duties included caring for the retired Bishop McGinley and helping to restore exhausted missionaries back to health. Later she worked in the maternity hospital kitchen in Drogheda.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 593
D.O.B. 31.12.1921
First Profession: 27.04.1964
Died: 28.02.2000 Aged: 78 years
Margaret, from Dundalk, entered on 9 April 1961. Her sister Anna had entered MMM in 1940 but left four years later of her own accord.
Nationality: British
Congregational Register No. 293
D.O.B.: 08.12.1925
First Profession: 01.06.1954
Died: 12.02.2010 Aged: 84 years
Teresa Margaret Headon was born in Gainford, Nr. Darlington, Co. Durham in the north of England. Teresa was educated at St. William’s Primary School and Immaculate Conception Secondary School, followed by a year at Bishop’s Commercial College, all in Darlington.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 148
D.O.B. 29.07.1922
First Profession: 16.03.1948
Died: 12.04.1992 Aged: 69 years
Ellen Mary, better known as Nellie, came from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. She entered in Drogheda on 12 September 1945.
Sister Dympna was born Eithne Hannelly in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon in 1922. Enna was a twin to her brother, Padraig, in a family of eight children. When she told her parents that she was going to join the Medical Missionaries of Mary, Mother Mary had to go to Castlerea to convince Enna’s father, that the congregation, then only four years old, was an appropriate choice for his daughter.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No. 89
D.O.B. 26.12.1908
First Profession 02.07.1945
Died: 24.11.2001 Aged: 92 years
Christina was born in Palleskenry, County Limerick. On leaving school, she worked with her aunt in a draper’s shop and did dress making at home.
