Maryknoll, NY: Sister Marie Crowley died on January 30th, 2023 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY. She was 95 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 67 years.
Marie was born on April 18th, 1927 in Boston, MA to John Crowley and Ellen (Conalty) Crowley. She had two sisters, Jean and Anne who have both predeceased her.
In 1945 she graduated Tewksbury High School, Tewksbury, MA and then studied nursing from 1946-1949 at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Brighton, MA where she obtained an R.N. Marie then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where she served from 1952-1954. In 1954 she studied at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing in 1956.
On September 2nd, 1956 she entered the Maryknoll Sisters Novitiate from (St. William’s Parish in Tewksbury, MA). Sister Marie made her First Profession of Vows on June 24th, 1959 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY and was then assigned to Pusan, Korea in 1960. She made her Final Profession of Vows on June 24th, 1965 in Seoul, Korea.
From 1960-1967, Sister Marie served as a clinic nurse in Pusan, worked in public health in Kang Hwa and spent a year in Vietnam working with Catholic Relief Services Hospital Medical Team. She then returned to Kang Hwa, Korea in 1968 to work as Assistant Clinic Director and Nursing Supervisor in the Public Health Program for two years at Christ the King Clinic.
In 1972 Sister Marie served as Assistant Director, Supervisor of Nurses and Supervisor of the Treatment Room at the Maryknoll Clinic in Jeung Pyeong, all while preparing the Korean staff to take over operations. In 1975, she returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY and worked in the Promotion and Mission Education Department in the Chicago area from 1975-1977.
In 1978 she returned to Korea, working as Administrator of the Maryknoll Clinic in Jeung Pyeong and as Physician’s Assistant for its Skin Clinic until 1990 when she moved to Mapogu, Seoul, South Korea.
In 1992, Sister Marie returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY to work as Assistant Administrator and Assistant Director of Nurses for the Maryknoll Sisters Nursing Home until 1997 when she was assigned to Chukudum in the South Sudan. There she served in the Sisters clinic until the civil war seriously disrupted the lives of civilians and the Sisters were forced to leave in 1999. Once again, she returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY where she worked in the Congregation’s Outpatient Clinic.
In 2006, she served in family ministry for one year before returning to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY to work as a relief nurse until her retirement in 2014. Sister Marie was assigned to the Maryknoll Sisters Home Care Unit where she remained until her death.
Funeral Services:
A Vespers Services will be celebrated for Sister Marie on Tuesday, February 7th at 4:15 P.M in the Sisters Main Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, New York.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, February 8th at 10:00 A.M. also in the Chapel of the Annunciation followed by interment of Sister’s body in the Maryknoll Sisters’ cemetery.