Sister Patricia McGrath, OP

Transcription

1 Sister Patricia McGrath, OP I will be confident and unafraid, for my strength and my song is the Lord. 1 Sister Patricia McGrath, known to her friends as Pat, was born on November 16, 1924, in Royal Oak, Michigan, to John and Genevieve (Kuntz) McGrath. She was the fifth of their nine children. Both parents were born and raised in Pennsylvania, and lived one hundred miles apart. In her biography, Sister Pat wrote, We have not figured out how mom and dad met being that they lived one hundred miles apart. Someone suggested they met at a roller skating party. Her parents lived in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, her mother s birthplace, until after their fourth child was born and then they moved to Royal Oak, Michigan. In her biography, Sister Pat described this transition and the impact of the Depression on her family. Dad built a home on Cherokee Street in Royal Oak and we lived there until I was about three or four years of age. This was during the Depression. He lost the home and his business and we moved to a funny old farm house in Utica where we had no water, no electricity and where my mother was very unhappy. I remember that time because I was not old enough for school so I was home all day and saw my mother crying. The family continued to live in that farmhouse until after her father found a place for them to live in Big Beaver, Michigan, which today is part of Troy, Michigan. Sister Pat said, After that our childhood, growing-up-years were very happy years. When Sister Pat finished eighth grade, the family moved to Royal Oak for a short time and then moved to Clawson, Michigan. As Sister Pat noted, We had many moves back and forth during our younger lives except for that long siege in Big Beaver. Sister Pat attended St. Mary School in Royal Oak for grades nine to eleven. She had been encouraged by one of her teachers to consider entering the Congregation but the years were the early war years and several of her brothers were already in military service. For this reason, Sister Pat delayed telling her parents about her interest in religious life. By the end of her junior year, Sister Pat made up her mind and entered the postulate on June 22, 1941, at the age of sixteen. She wrote, I entered on my father s birthday. He was kind of sad bringing me to Adrian, but we managed. 1 Isaiah 12: 1-6 1

2 At Reception on December 30, 1941, Sister Pat received her religious name, Sister Ann Maureen, and the following year, December 31, 1942, she made first profession. Her first assignment was to begin her undergraduate studies at Siena Heights College, where she studied full-time from January to August Her first years of teaching were in Michigan and Illinois. In her autobiography, Sister Pat wrote: My first teaching experience was in Port Huron, Michigan. That was just for one year. I lived with Katie Slattery, we were the two youngest. It was a very busy year, but also fun. Her next teaching assignments took her to Bishop Quarter in Oak Park, Illinois, and Our Lady of Good Counsel in Chicago. In 1947, she returned to Michigan to teach at St. Mary School in Rockwood. During these years, Sister Pat was beginning to experience some early symptoms of health issues. During the first six months of 1950 she studied full-time at Siena Heights College and received her bachelor s degree. From August 1950 to June 1970, Sister Pat continued to teach in elementary grades. She preferred teaching the little ones, and said, I taught mostly primary grades during those years. I did move into the middle grades and then up to grades seven and eight, which I hated. They were hard children to deal with. I was a baby teacher and that s where I belonged. During this twenty-year period, Sister Pat taught in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Florida. She also began showing signs of multiple health issues. In the mid-50s she spent several weeks in Mount Carmel Hospital in Chicago and in the 60s she underwent a series of tests at Ford Hospital and at the Mayo Clinic. At one point, Sister Pat said, My arms and legs feel like logs. She had expressed an interest in pursuing a graduate degree but decided against it. It was also during this period that two family members died: her father in 1957 and her oldest brother Adrian in The 1970s marked the end of Pat s classroom teaching. She taught in three Michigan schools: St. Mary in Royal Oak, St Stephen in Saginaw, and St. Henry in Rosebush. At St. Stephen she also served as a pastoral minister. It was while teaching at St. Henry School in Rosebush that Sister Pat received a call from Sister Virginia Hafey-Wells asking if she would come to Adrian in 1979 to help make draperies for several areas being renovated. Sister Pat had lived with Virginia in Florida and Ohio and had worked with her on several household projects and agreed to work with her for one year. She ended up staying for fourteen years. 2

3 During the wake service, Sister Helen Sohn, Assistant to the Chapter Prioress for Holy Rosary Chapter, said the following about Sister Pat s sewing. All of us know that Pat ranked right up there with the best of seamstresses she was a perfectionist and whether it was drapery, a trunk cover or a winter coat, it was perfect. In her biography Pat never mentions taking a sewing class, but she did say, The first time, I put a needle right through my finger but that didn t stop me. I was determined I was going to learn. After the fourteen-year drapery marathon, Sister Pat retired and lived in Berkley, Michigan, for seven and a half years. She said: My family was close by and they drove me around because I did not drive. Those were happy years, very different from teaching. I did things with elders, took Holy Communion to people in the high-rise where I lived. These people still feel very close to me. When Sister Pat returned to Adrian in 2001 she lived in Regina for eight years before moving to Maria, where she received pain management care. During the first years at Regina she continued to assist with various renovation projects on campus. Sister Patricia McGrath died on August 29, 2015, at the age of ninety and in the seventy-third year of her religious life. Sister Mary Jo Sieg shared the following remembrance of her friend. Pat was one of a kind a very talented woman always giving generously of her time. She was a perfectionist. From August 1987 to 1990 we lived in apartments next to each other until I went to Dominican High to teach at the Academy that opened that September. I would visit Pat three or four times a year and call her every Sunday. We looked forward to our phone visits. She loved making gifts for her family. When the holiday season was near she would be engrossed in her project for that year. She taught me to make many of these things. It was like a Santa s Workshop. Brenda Gaunt spoke lovingly of her Aunt Pat and how much she meant to the family. She read a message for her daughter Lauren who had written about her great-aunt. Here are excerpts from her message. Aunt Pat was my great-aunt. I spent so much time with her when I was growing up. My house is filled with little notes and Knick knacks she sent home with me. And of course her beautiful quilts made impeccably with so much love. We celebrated our birthdays together every year. She has been a joyful person to celebrate with ever since I can remember. I think she passed that kind of joy on 3

4 to all of us who knew her. I will remember her and, what I m sure she d want me to remember, the world is beautiful and we are very loved. Sister Helen Sohn ended her reflection on Sister Pat s life by saying: This is an attempt to do an impossible task to try to capture the essence of Pat in a few paragraphs is an effort doomed to fail from the get-go. Without a doubt, I can say Pat loved her God, she loved her family, she loved her Congregation, she loved the wee ones she taught and, when all was said and done, she loved those draperies that still grace our windows. Father Roland Calvert, OSFS, opened his homily by saying, In the readings 2 that Sr. Pat chose, she shows her great faith and trust in God. In the first reading Isaiah says, I am confident and unafraid. My courage and strength is in God who has been my Savior. Sister Pat had a rock-solid strength and equanimity. The beautiful Gospel from John echoes these sentiments almost word for word. Do not let your heart be troubled, Jesus says. Jesus promises that there will be a permanent dwelling place for us after death. Our faith tells us that Sister Pat is in that place today. I experienced Sister Pat s generosity about twenty years ago when I had lunch with her one day. I congratulated her on the beautiful curtains she had just put up in Madden. Out of nowhere she said, What about the curtains in your apartment? The [apartment] curtains were brand new and I thought very presentable. But I admitted that the two in the kitchen were on the shabby side. She said she would stop by the apartment later that day and sure enough she did that afternoon with a yardstick. She agreed the [kitchen] curtains were shabby and then asked What s your favorite color? I answered, Green. She then measured the curtains and announced she d be back in a few days. Sure enough, about three days later she knocked and brought in a gorgeous set of green curtains. Borrowing an epitaph from her friends, You made the world a more beautiful place. 2 Isaiah 12:1-6, John 14:1-6 4

5 Left: First Communion, Clausen, Michigan, in June Right: Sister Pat with her parents, John and Genevieve McGrath, at her first mission in Port Huron, Michigan, 1943 Right: At the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, circa 1978 Left: Sister Pat at work in the Drape Room on the fourth floor of Madden Hall. 5