Sister Theresa Hathaway
In her own words
Until I was 16, I never had any desire whatsoever to become a Sister. I always dressed up in high heels, jewelry, and long dresses – and I liked boys. I attended grades 6 to 8 at St. Ignatius in Portland and St. Mary of the Valley during my freshman and sophomore years. In 1950, during a January retreat for the girls, I was coming out of chapel in the small hallway and experienced an overwhelming desire to enter the Community!
I talked to Mother Collette about entering and was told that the entrance date was on February 15. I told her, “If you don’t take me now I may lose this desire!” She let me enter on January 15.
I have celebrated 63 years as a Sister during which I filled many jobs: teaching, principal, secretary and librarian and I enjoyed it all.
There is an interesting story concerning Sister Genevieve in relation to our family. In 1935, we lived across the street from St. Stephen’s School, where Sister Genevieve taught. A picture of the First Communion Class features Mary Ann, at age 5, as one of the angels in the front row. Shortly after that, Dad received information that he was needed back on the farm. Mom had grown very fond of Sr. Genevieve, who later served as Mother General. Before we left, Sr. Genevieve told Mom, “You will be back in 10 years.” Lo and behold, we returned to Oregon in 1945!
I think Sr. Genevieve had her eye on Sr. Mary Ann and – who knows – maybe she did see “something” about me too.
