May the Dear Lord Reward You
Sister Theresa Hathaway was born in 1933 in Cushing, Oklahoma. Though she does not recall exactly how long her family stayed there, her earliest memories are of moving from place to place, starting with a house in Wellston. One day, their time there ended abruptly when her mother looked out the window and saw a tornado heading straight for their home. The funnel cloud struck a large tree stump in the yard, causing it to veer off course. The tornado picked up their chicken coop, tossed it onto the back of their house, and knocked it off its foundation by about a foot. After that, they did not stay in the house much longer.
At the time of the tornado, Sister Theresa was just a baby, lying in a basket on a bench in the next room. As soon as the house was struck, her mother ran in and caught her just before she was about to be dumped onto the floor.
Not long after that harrowing experience, the family made their way to Oregon. Sister Theresa remembers the move clearly and the big differences she noticed from life in Oklahoma. They settled in one location for a while, and she attended school at St. John Parish, going from first to third grade. At that point, the family returned to Oklahoma for a few years before coming back to Oregon.
Once the Hathaway family settled back in the Beaver State, Sr. Theresa attended Saint Ignatius School in Portland and graduated from eighth grade there. Around that time, the family lived across from St. Stephens Parish, right across from a school where the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon taught. Sister Colette was one of the teachers she remembers from that time.
Sister Theresa’s older sister, Sister Mary Anne Hathaway, had always wanted to become a sister. She remembers playing dress up with friends and Mary Anne never wanting to wear the costume clothes or jewelry so their mother made her a Sister’s outfit complete with a veil that Mary Anne loved to play in as a child.
After graduating from eighth grade, Sister Mary Anne entered high school. At that point, their mother decided they should both attend a Catholic high school. Soon she enrolled both girls in St. Mary of the Valley as boarding students. Sister Theresa started as a freshman while her sister was already making plans to enter religious life. Which Sr. Mary Anne officially did in 1948.
One Saturday, while Sister Theresa was a sophomore in high school, she found herself alone in the large recreation room. She had not gone home that weekend because she was not feeling well. As she walked around, she wondered what she was meant to do. On a whim, she decided to visit the chapel.
“I don’t know what I said to the Lord, and I don’t remember what He said to me,” Sister Theresa recalls. “But I came out of the chapel and said, ‘I want to be a nun.’
That was the first time I had ever thought about it. I never wanted to be a Sister before.”
Just like that, Sr. Theresa’s life changed. About a week later, she spoke with Mother Colette and told her she wanted to enter the convent. It was during the school’s Christmas break and Mother Colette reminded her that Entrance Day was early February. But Sister Theresa was insistent. “Mother,” she said, “if you don’t take me now, I may lose this thought of wanting to be a nun, and I don’t want that to go away.”
Mother Colette agreed, and in February 1950, Sister Theresa began her religious life. “It was a very quiet religious life,” she says. “I had lots of nuns to be with, a very holy place to be, and I was always uplifted. It was marvelous. It was wonderful. And here I am today.”
Sister Theresa entered the convent and graduated from St. Mary of the Valley. Throughout her years of service, she earned a teaching degree and librarian certification. She served as a teacher, principal, secretary, and librarian at St. Mary of the Valley in Beaverton; St. Agatha, Our Lady of Sorrows, and Holy Cross in Portland; St. John the Baptist in Milwaukie; St. Boniface in Sublimity; Visitation in Verboort; and St. Francis of Assisi in Roy. Later, she served as the Motherhouse Superior and the director of the Motherhouse library.
Serving alongside her biological sister, Sister Mary Anne, was a great gift. “Even in her later years, when we were both retired, it was a blessing to be together. She passed away in 2022, she was such a holy person. I know she is in heaven.”
Sister Theresa has spent much of her life making rosaries. “I’ve made hundreds over the years. While she is aware her fingers don’t work as well as they used to, she is determined to keep going. Her rosaries have traveled across the world, promoting the daily prayers of the rosary.
Throughout her life, Sister Theresa has embraced a spirit of gratitude. “There was one sister who, every time we finished working in the garden, would say, ‘May the dear Lord reward you!’ I’ve carried that with me ever since. Even now, when someone does something kind for me, I’ll often say, ‘May the dear Lord reward you.’ It’s just something that stayed with me.
Reflecting on her life, she shares, “What do I love most about being a Sister? Belonging to God. Knowing that everything I do is for Jesus. And having the blessing of going to Mass and receiving Holy Communion every morning – there is no joy like it. Of course, we have fun in our community, and I remember those times too, but that’s the deepest joy — Jesus in the Eucharist.”
Looking back, Sister Theresa recalls when she first entered religious life. “Sister Angeline — she’s in heaven now — once said to me, ‘When you first entered, I gave you two years and figured that would be enough for you.’ I had to laugh! ‘Fooled you,’ I told her.”
As she celebrates her 75th Jubilee, Sister Theresa finds it humbling. “Seventy-five years given to the Lord — what more could I have done? I’m so grateful He called me and I have remained faithful all these years. This is my heaven.”
She offers advice to those considering religious life: “Listen. Sometimes, the call comes suddenly, like it did for me. I didn’t want this life — until I did. It struck me so hard one day, I thought, ‘Was that my angel nudging me?’ Maybe. But if you feel that pull, talk to someone. Maybe it really is Jesus saying, ‘Follow me.’”
