Sister Rosemary Garrity died on September 9th, 2018 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, in Maryknoll, NY. She was 94 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 71 years.
She was born in Waterbury, CT on January 10th, 1924 to Margaret (Nash) Garrity and Frank Garrity. She has one sister, Rita, Mrs. Charles Mallon. She had four brothers: Rev. Thomas Garrity-a Maryknoll Father, Dr. Joseph Garrity, John Garrity and William Garrity. All of her brothers have predeceased her.
In 1941, Rosemary graduated from Waterbury Catholic High School; after graduation she worked for the American Brass Company in Waterbury, CT. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters Novitiate at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Maryknoll, NY on October 5th, 1946; from Immaculate Conception Parish in Hartford, CT. At her Reception she received the religious name Sister Mary Thomas. She made her First Profession of Vows on April 6th, 1949 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center and her Final Profession of Vows on April 6th, 1952 in Yucatan, Mexico.
From 1949-1951, Sister Rosemary worked at the Field Afar Magazine, (now known as Maryknoll Magazine). In 1951, she was assigned to Mérida, Mexico where she spent the next 17 years teaching English, typing and shorthand to girls preparing for higher education in commercial subjects. In 1968, she returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, to study at Mary Rogers College. There, she earned an Associate’s Degree in 1970 and a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Organization in 1972. In 1973, she went to Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and earned a Master’s Degree in Social Service in 1974. She then returned to Mexico to work in pastoral ministry and social work among the impoverished people of Mexico City until 1982.
In 1982, she returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center to work in the Congregation’s Development Department’s Promotion Office until 1985. She was then assigned to Colonia Mezquital, Guatemala where she worked with basic Christian communities and taught literacy to impoverished women until 1993. She was assigned to Mexico again in 1994 to do pastoral ministry and social work in Oaxaca. In 2001, she returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center where she did pastoral care among the elderly Maryknoll Sisters until 2010 when she retired.
A Vespers service will be held for Sister Rosemary in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 at 4:15 P.M. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at 11:00 A.M in the same chapel.
Sister Rosemary has generously requested that her body be donated to Science.