She was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on February 25, 1925 to Agnes Veronica (McHugh) McLean and Arthur William McLean. She received the name Mildred at baptism. She had three brothers, John, George and Edward; the latter two were priests and one sister, Agnes. Her parents and two brothers John and George have predeceased her. Her brother Edward passed away on September 6, 2016 only a few hours after Sr. Agnes Mary. Mildred graduated from the Academy of Notre Dame, Tyngsboro, MA in 1942. During the summers of 1940 –1941 she attended Bradshaw Business College in Lowell, MA. After high school she attended Salem State Teachers College from 1942 –1946 when she obtained a Bachelors or Science in Education.
Mildred entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation from St. Margaret’s Parish, Lowell, MA in the Archdiocese of Boston on October 5, 1946 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, NY. At her Reception, she received the religious name Sister Agnes Mary, which she retained throughout her religious life. She made her First Profession of Vows on April 6, 1949 in Ossining, NY and was assigned to Kyoto, Japan where she did her language study. She made her Final Profession of Vows on April 6, 1952 in Kyoto.
After three months of language study, Sr. Agnes Mary’s ministries included catechetical work in Tsu, Japan for a year. In 1951 she worked as a secretary in Kyoto before going back to catechetical work in Otsu and Ise Shi parishes until 1958 when she returned to the United States until 1963. During that time she studied Canon Law at Fontbonne, in St. Louis, MO and was Postulant Mistress for one year at the Sisters’ Valley Park Novitiate in Missouri. She returned to Japan in 1963 to the Maryknoll Girls School in Yokkaichi where she taught high school English and Typing. She also taught private English lessons to business men, and classes to teachers in government schools and in Tsu at Mie (National) University during the years 1963 to 1997. The following years in Japan were dedicated to visiting the sick and elderly until her return to the U.S when she was assigned to the Eden Community at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, NY on April 1, 2008.
Sister Agnes Mary died at the Maryknoll Sisters Center on September 6, 2016.
A Vespers service will be held for Sister Agnes Mary on September 8th at 4:15 p.m. in the Main Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center. A funeral Mass will follow on September 9th at 11:00 a.m. also in the Main Chapel at the Center. Interment will follow in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery on the Center grounds.