Sister Rose Mary Heineck
I grew up in a family in which the Catholic faith was very important. We prayed the rosary every evening. We attended Mass every Sunday as well as Lenten devotions, Forty Hours Adoration and the parish missions. My parents were very devout.
One day my older sister Mary, age nine, said to me, “Do you know that God is the greatest in the whole wide world?” In great awe, I thought that since God is so great, I wanted to be His. I never forgot this “big revelation” when I was about five years of age.
I was born in Bend, Oregon. We moved to Hillsboro when I was two years old. Dad wanted to live on a farm to make a better living for the family of five girls and two boys. He also wanted all of us to attend Catholic high schools.
After attending elementary school at St. Matthew’s in Hillsboro, I enrolled at St. Mary of the Valley High School (now Valley Catholic) in Beaverton. Through the years, I kept the desire of becoming a Sister in my heart. In my senior year I met with Mother Colette, a Sister of St. Mary of Oregon, and told her I would work a year to make some money before entering the Sisters’ convent. She thought I should enter right away. I did and here I am!
I attended Marylhurst College and taught mainly primary grades for 46 years. In my later years, I traveled to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico and to the places of Jesus’ ministry in the Holy Land. I enjoy many arts and crafts, making greeting cards, and especially, decoupaging pictures of Jesus and Mary to give to others.
I am grateful that there is never a day that I don’t have something to do!
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We invite you to enjoy a photo album of the life and ministry of Sr. Rose Mary Heineck.
