Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No. 389
D.O.B.: 15.04.1909
First Profession: 03.05.1957
Died: 26.04.2004 Aged: 95 years
Johanna (Hanna) Rahilly was born in Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry. She came from a farming family and had one brother and one sister. She worked as a waitress in several hotels before entering MMM in October 1955 at the comparatively late age of 46. In spite of being a late entrant, she was to give many years in the service of God as Sr. Patrick Maria.
Nationality: British (born in Keady, Armagh)
Congregational Register No: 509
D.O.B. 26.02.1914
First Profession: 03.04.1963
Died: 19.08.1997 Aged: 83 years
Baptized Una Kathleen, Sr. Ogilvie was born in Keady, Co. Armagh, but grew up in Motherwell in Scotland. She entered MMM on 2 January 1960.
Nationality: British
Congregational Register No: 522
D.O.B. 22.07.1916
First Profession: 04.04.1956
Died: 12.09.2008 Aged: 92 years
Theresa Quinn was born in Liverpool, England, which she laughingly referred to as the capital of Ireland. She was educated at St. John the Evangelist Parochial School and Notre Dame Collegiate School in Liverpool, where she passed her school certificate and obtained qualifications in shorthand, typing and bookkeeping. She worked as a shorthand typist from 1936 to 1946, first in England in a produce broker’s office and then in Wales for the Ministry of Food. At the end of WWII, her excellent secretarial skills enabled her to work in Germany for the United Nations Relocation and Rehabilitation Organisation, helping the tens of thousands of displaced and stateless persons in Europe to find new lives. In 1948, Theresa went to Canada and worked for the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Toronto before moving to Schenectady, New York, in 1952, where she worked as a stenographer for the American Locomotive Company.
In spite of her successful career and active and varied life, Theresa felt a nagging desire for religious life. Following the advice of a good friend, a Benedictine monk, and after a period of discernment, she entered MMM in Winchester, Massachusetts, in 1953 and took the name Sr. Miriam Therese.
Sr. Miriam Therese was called upon to serve in many different MMM houses: in Ireland and the USA, as well as in her beloved Tanzania. Her secretarial and bookkeeping skills were highly regarded and much sought after. She had a talent for languages, too, and her Kiswahili was fluent enough for her to be able to type in the language. This was invaluable in helping her relate to and communicate with the local people and the diocese. She was the bishop’s secretary and bursar in Mbulu Diocese for several years. In Dareda she was also involved with the nursing school. She did secretarial work and gave English lessons to the student nurses.
Sr. Miriam Therese was very musical. She had a beautiful singing voice that soared to the heavens during Mass and the Divine Office. She could also play the organ. She was a perfectionist in her work. Miariam made a bit of medical history in Ireland by being the first person to have both knees replaced! She told one Sister that she had had a very interesting life!
Sr. Miriam Therese retired to Drogheda when her health declined. She found retirement frustrating at times, but following a slight stroke, she emerged with great serenity. In 2005 she transferred to Aras Mhuire, where she was greatly loved by the staff and residents. She was a very gracious lady who loved her family and had a special bond with her ‘baby sister’, Rose.
Sr. Miriam Therese died peacefully on12 September 2008 after a few days of illness, a ‘good and faithful servant’.
Congregational Register No. 69
D.O.B. 03.11.1923
First Profession 08.09.1944
Died: 10.08.2005
Aged: 81 years
Mary Quinn came from Waterford. She was one of six sisters and one brother. She made up her mind before her eighteenth birthday that she wanted to be an MMM and never wavered from that point on. She entered MMM in January 1942, not long after her eighteen birthday, and took the name Sr. Mary Redemptoris.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 396
D.O.B. 09.02.1934
First Profession: 08.09.1957
Died: 12.09.1989 Aged: 55 years
On 8 December 1954, Margaret Teresa, from Co. Tyrone, joined MMM in Drogheda.
For many years she was known as Sr. M. Nives. Her gifts lay in the culinary department and nothing in that line seemed to be trouble to her. Her ministry was spent mainly in Ireland: in Clonmel, Drogheda and Dublin, where she attended the Grafton Academy for two years. She also spent three years in Abakaliki, Nigeria.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No.150
D.O.B. 12.10.1889
First Profession: 09.09.1948
Died: 06.02.1978 Aged: 88 years
Sr. Elizabeth (of the Sacred Heart) was 55 years old when she went to Drogheda on 1 October 1945 as an aspirant. However, she was to give 33 years of her life to MMM.
She had been housekeeping for many years previously for her brother, a priest in Co. Roscommon.
She was a very generous and able worker and was a great asset in MMM’s founding years.
Nationality: Irish
Congregation Register No: 154
D.O.B. 04.06.1927
First Profession: 09.08.1948
Died: 18.09.1966 Aged: 39 years
Rita Brigid Quigley, from Buncrana, Co. Donegal, entered MMM on 1 March 1946 in Drogheda. She was one of the many who cycled to and from Rosemount to various Dublin hospitals for general nurse training.
Sister Leonora was born Mary Nora Quealy in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford in 1936. She completed her early education there and trained as a nurse in Saint Patrick’s Hospital before joining the Medical Missionaries of Mary in 1959.
After profession she worked for two years as a staff nurse and ward sister in the hospital in Drogheda. She was then assigned to Rome, where she worked in the Clinica Moscati for two years. She returned to Ireland and trained in children’s nursing in Belfast. Leonora also cared for Mother Mary before her next assignment to Kenya in 1969.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 107
D.O.B. 14.05.1920
First Profession: 08.09.1946
Died: 06.05.2008 Aged: 87 years
Joan Maria Purcell was born in Dublin and considered herself a ‘true blue.’ She was educated by the Sisters of Charity in Gardiner Street and had the Dublin sense of humour, a great interest in politics and a capacity to connect with people from all walks of life. There is nothing on record to indicate what first attracted Joan to MMM, but she entered in 1943 and took the name Sr. M. Teresa.
Sister Johanna was born in 1924 to a farming family in Blackwater, Co. Wexford. She had a twin brother who died at birth. She did her early education with the Loreto Sisters in Wexford and joined MMM in 1944. After profession Johanna trained as a nurse-midwife. In 1952 she was assigned to Angola, where she served for two years. Then she was a staff nurse and night superintendent for eight years in the IMTH and the maternity hospital in Drogheda.
