Current Ministry Location: Maryknoll Sisters Center-Maryknoll, NY
Sister Muriel was born to Lucinda (Hagan) Gallant and Charles B Gallant in Van Buren, ME, on July 20th, 1924. She had 3 sisters and 3 brothers. She grew up in Portland, graduated from Deering High School in 1942 and was employed by the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company in Portland, before entering the Maryknoll Sisters at the Sisters Center in Ossining, NY in 1946. Shortly after profession of her First Vows in 1949, Sister Muriel was assigned to Panama where she taught in the inner-city at Colegio San Vicente and was a Catechist in the Panama Canal Zone. She pronounced her Final Vows April 6th, 1952 in Panama.
Upon her return to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York in 1959, Sister Muriel earned a Bachelor of Education degree from Maryknoll Teachers College. That same year, she returned to Panama to teach grades, 5, 6 and at the secondary level at Colegio San Vincent.
From 1967 – 1969, Sister Muriel was assigned to Guatemala to teach in Monte Maria Elementary and High School, a Maryknoll school for girls. During that time she also was the convent coordinator and leader of a charismatic prayer movement in Guatemala City.
In late 1969, Sister Muriel returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in NY where she served in the Development Department’s data processing office until 1972, when she returned to Guatemala to teach until 1974.
From 1974 – 1979, Sister Muriel returned to the Sisters Center in NY and to the Development Department. From 1980 – 1984 Sister Muriel returned home to Portland, Maine for family ministry. While in Portland, she worked at Mercy Hospital and as an assistant chaplain at the Maine Correctional Center. During that time, in 1981, she earned Certificates in both Geriatric Nurse and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation at Westbrook College which later qualified her to work in Maryknoll Residential Care Unit from 1984 – 1989. In 1982, she earned a Certificate in Geriatric Pharmacology from S. Maine Voc-Tech Institute in Portland. Also, in 1984 she earned a Certificate in Clinical Pastoral Education from the Maine Correctional Center.
In 1989, Sister Muriel began working at St. Gregory’s School in New York City, where she served in the library until 1992. She was then assigned to the Maryknoll Sisters House in Monrovia, CA where she served as a medical driver.
Sister Muriel returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York in 2003 where she is an active member of the Chi Rho community. Sister Muriel retired officially in 2004 at the age of 80.