Sister Marie Patrice Kehoe, MM
Born: May 10, 1923
Entered: December 8, 1941
Died: August 9, 2014
Sister Marie Patrice Kehoe, MM, who served primarily as a teacher, then a nurse, in Hawaii for nearly 50 years, died peacefully on August 9, 2014, at our Maryknoll Sisters Home Care III, Maryknoll, NY. She was 91 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 72 years.
Born on May 10, 1923, in New Rochelle, NY, to Raymond F. and Mary Wilde Kehoe, and christened Patricia Marie, she was one of six children born to the couple. As a child, she attended Holy Family Parish, New Rochelle, with her family, graduating from Cathedral High School, New York, NY, in 1940.
Patricia Marie entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation at our motherhouse in Maryknoll, NY, from St. Athanasius Parish, Evanston, IL, on December 8, 1941, and received the religious name of Marie Patrice, which she retained for the whole of her life as a Maryknoll Sister. She made her First Vows on June 30, 1944, and Final Vows on June 30, 1947, both at Maryknoll, New York.
Sister completed her teacher’s training at Maryknoll Rogers College, Maryknoll, NY in 1947 and taught for a year in Boston’s Chinatown before being missioned to Hawaii, where she taught mathematics and religion at Maryknoll High School in the Punahou district of Honolulu on Oahu from 1948 to 1970.
She then returned to the mainland United States, where she took courses in theology at Manhattan College, New York City and then enrolled at Pace University in 1971, where she earned an R.N. degree in 1973. While she was happy in teaching, Sister had longed to be trained in the healing ministry as a nurse.
Sister Marie Patrice then returned to Hawaii where she worked at St. Francis Hospital, in Honolulu, from 1974 to 1976, followed by serving as a nurse-teacher on Majuro in the Marshall Islands.
Returning once again to the Maryknoll Sisters Center for renewal and Congregational Services, Sister Marie Patrice worked as a nurse and as the Coordinator of Health Services in the Maryknoll Sisters Nursing Home, from 1979 to 1981. Subsequently, she went to the Maryknoll Sisters residence in Monrovia, CA where she served as the clinic nurse. She then returned to Hawaii, where she worked as the school nurse at Maryknoll High School, in Honolulu from 1985 to 2005. Students and teachers alike sought her out for her compassionate listening as well as her healing presence and care. The president of Maryknoll High School, Michael Baker, called Sister Patrice the “mother of the entire campus.”
On her 60th Jubilee year, she shared with the readers of the Hawaii Catholic Harold these reflections: “God sends us to where God wants us to be; among those God wishes us to be among; to do that which God wishes us to do in our lives.”
In 2006, Sister was assigned to the Chi Rho Community for her retirement at the Maryknoll Sisters Center where she volunteered in various capacities, particularly with ill and elderly Sisters until 2009. Her prayer ministry was directed to those in the islands, Central Pacific and Micronesia.
Sister Marie Patrice, who donated her body to science, is survived by a brother and a sister.
Today, we welcome other members of Sister’s family: nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews to this celebration. We are particularly appreciative of the presence of Monsignor Michael Wilson, a member of the family, who is our celebrant today.