Missioners
Sister Teresa (Terry) Alexander
| "By the time I got there, they were bringing up the first body. I think it was Jean Donovan. There was no doubt about identifying them at that point. We just knelt down right there and prayed." It was hard getting over the grieving for her lost companions. But she said she had to forgive the killers. "I never had a lot of bitterness in my heart." |  |
Sister Teresa Alexander was born in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Having worked for a year in an office after graduating from high school, she entered the Maryknoll Sisters in 1945. She earned her degree in education from Maryknoll Teachers College in New York.
Sister Teresa was assigned in 1960 to Puerto Armuelles in Panama, where she taught English, history. bookkeeping and typing at the Colegio San Antonio. She then moved to Ancon, where she taught commercial subjects at Colegio San Vicente until 1972.
Sister Teresa was then assigned to Boqueron, where her focus changed from schoolwork to pre-evangelization and the formation of basic ecclesial communities, which she dearly loved.
In 1980, Sister Teresa transferred to La Libertad and Santa Ana in El Salvador. It was here where she encountered a great deal of violence. Two Maryknoll Sisters, an Ursuline Sister, and a lay missioner were raped and murdered.
Sister Terry remembers clearly the day she saw the four bodies, half-buried beside an isolated dirt road in central El Salvador.
In 1981, Sister Teresa left El Salvador to begin work with basic ecclesial communities in Guatemala. Two years later, she moved to Mexico, where she served as pastor of Maria Madre de Dios Parish in the town of Lazaro Cardenas.
Sister Teresa returned in 1988 to the Congregation's New York headquarters, where she has served in the Treasury and Admissions offices.
In 1991, she went back to her beloved El Salvador to offer pastoral services until 2005. She also gave testimony of her experiences in El Salvador to many visiting groups.
These days, Sister Teresa is living at our New York center once again, providing her expertise in the Center Coordinator's office as well as sharing her kindness, caring, and positive spirit to her Center-Eden group members.
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