Lest We Forget
Sister Rita Mary Lyons, CSJP (1913-2011)
In her own words….
My life began on a farm in Minnesota, not far from Minneapolis, where I attended a two-room rural school. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I was able to attend one year of high school at the
Visitation Convent in St. Paul. I remember being attracted to the Sisters of that order, but thought that I would not qualify because of the dowry and educational requirements.
The following year my family moved to Washington State, where I graduated from Sedro Woolley High School in 1931. Then, because this was the middle of the Great Depression, I decided to apply for nursing school – a less expensive education. When our pastor heard that I had written to both the Providence Hospital in Everett, and to St. Joseph Hospital, he recommended
Bellingham. He thought I would feel more at home with Sisters from an Irish background. With his assistance I was accepted at the St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing. After graduating in 1934, I became a postulant. Most of my years of ministry have been spent in hospital work, with the exception of four years of teaching at the novitiate in Bellingham (1961-1965), and eight years serving as Provincial Secretary (1968-76). In 2001 I moved to St. Mary-on-the-Lake after serving 24 years as Director of Spiritual Care at Ketchikan General Hospital.
Since I’ve been here I’ve had time to think and meditate, and have had time to read, as well as a library to explore. It’s wonderful to have that time, after all those years of being busy and just doing what was required. Everything one learns makes life better.
Community living is helpful here because prayer is central to the life of this community, where in the hospital I would often feel a tension between the work and the prayer. Everything here helps with prayer.
The Sisters are so special – each is very precious in her own way. They care for each other, not making a show of it, just doing it. They are all such an example to me.