Sister Mary Elizabeth Driscoll, Maryknoll Missioner for 70 Years, Dies

The following comes from Dorsey Funeral Home:

Sister Mary Elizabeth Driscoll died peacefully on Oct. 2, 2013 at Phelps Memorial Hospital, Sleepy Hollow, NY.  She was 90 years old and celebrated 70 years as a Maryknoll Sister on September 7 of this year.

Mary Driscoll was born on July 26, 1923, in Portland OR, to Elcena Greene Driscoll and William E. Driscoll. Her parents, a brother (William) and two sisters (Anne and Susan) have predeceased her. She is survived by one sister, Mrs. William Neely (Carolyn) of Boise, ID.

Mary attended St. Mary’s Academy, Portland, OR, graduating in 1941, and Maryhurst College, Ore. during 1942.   She entered Maryknoll on Sept 7, 1943, from All Saints Parish, Portland, OR. At her Reception, she received the religious name of Sister M. Edmund Damien.

She made her First Profession of Vows on March 7, 1946, at the Maryknoll Sisters Motherhouse Ossining, NY, and her Final Vows on March 7, 1949 in Hawaii.  She graduated from Maryknoll Teachers College, NY, with a Bachelor of Education degree in 1955. In 1964 she received an M.A.  in Theology at Providence College, RI.  From 1969 – 1979 she attended the Univ. of Pacific Coast, CA, during which time she became certified to teach EMR students and Learning Disabled children. She received the Outstanding Teacher Award for “exemplary teaching and dedication to school and community.”

In 1946, Sister Mary was assigned to Hawaii where she taught in grade schools in Maui-Wailuku and Punahou. In 1955 she went to Chinatown, NYC, where she served as Assistant Principal and teacher until 1958 when she was assigned to the Maryknoll Sisters Novitiate at Maryknoll, NY, as an Assistant Novice Mistress. In 1964 she was re-assigned as Novice Mistress to the Maryknoll Sisters Novitiate in Topsfield, MA, until 1968. From Topsfield, she moved to the U.S. Western Region where she served on their Regional Governing Board and as Region Coordinator and taught upper elementary Learning Disabled Children in public schools until 1981. In 1982, Sister Mary was assigned to the U.S. Eastern Region in Bardstown, KY where she did social work in the Sisters Visitor Program of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, working with poor families and the elderly for eight years. From 1989 – 1997 she taught students with low esteem and school “dropouts” at the Creative Ed. Center. After that she volunteered in Bardstown Parish as a Pastoral visitor. In 2010, she moved to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, NY and went for 10 months as a volunteer tutor in the nearby Brookside Elementary School.

From 2010 to 2013 she retired to the Sisters’ residence in Monrovia, CA before returning to the Maryknoll Sisters Center at Maryknoll, NY, on August 1, 2013. Sister Mary was admitted to Phelps Memorial Hospital on Sept. 30 for emergency surgery, where she died at 7:30 P.M. on October 2, 2013.

A Vespers Service will be held on Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 at 6:30 P.M.in the main chapel of the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Tuesday Oct. 8, at 11:00 A.M., also in the main chapel. Burial will be in the Maryknoll Sisters’ Cemetery. Dorsey Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.