Maryknoll Sisters

Sister Margaret Tryon, M.M. celebrated her 70^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. Sister Margaret Tryon entered Maryknoll on October 30, 1947 at Valley Park, Missouri from the Parish of St. Thomas Aquinas in Croydon, PA.

From 1950-1952, Sister Margaret studied at the New York State University of Applied Arts and Sciences and earned an Associate Degree in Food Service Administration.  In 1952, Sister Margaret worked in Bethany Kitchen.

Her first overseas assignment was in 1953 to Hawaii, where she taught in elementary schools before going to Micronesia where she taught on the Island of Majuro.

From 1971-72, Sister Margaret was at the Center in Central Services as Food Service Liaison.  Upon her return to Majuro, Sister Margaret taught one-half day; performed in-service teacher training for Micronesians, along with a radio ministry until 1978.  From 1978-1985, Sister Margaret worked in Hawaii in Pastoral ministry and Catechetics.

Later, Sister Margaret gave Center Service at Rogers Library from 1976-78.   After renewal, Sister Margaret returned to Hawaii and was involved in Pastoral Ministry from 1978-81 and Catechetics from 1981-85 in Hawaii.

Sister Margaret returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center and helped in Congregational Services until illness in her family necessitated her presence from 1990- 1992.

From 1993-1996, Sister Margaret did pastoral with women in Hawaii.

Sister Margaret resides at the Center and her Prayer Ministry is Central Pacific.

Sister Tresa Zampedri, M.M. celebrated her 70^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. Sister Tresa Zampedri entered Maryknoll from St. Nicholas Parish at Rupert, Idaho, on October 31, 1947.  From 1950-51, she studied at the New York State Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences.  Sister Tresa received an A.A. in Food Services Administration.

Sister Tresa worked in Congregation Services until 1952 when she was assigned to Bolivia.  After language study, Sister Tresa worked as a dietician in the Maryknoll Sisters Hospital in Riberalta, and later taught at the Maryknoll Mission in San Jose, Riberalta, Bolivia until 1961.

She returned to the Center in 1971 as a part-time student at Mary Rogers College, and did various part time services until 1973.

From 1974-1981, Sister Tresa was in residence at Monrovia helping with elderly Sisters.

In 1981, Sister Tresa was assigned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center and her prayer ministry is Bolivia.

Sister Mary Annel, M.M. celebrated her 60th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She joined the Maryknoll Sisters from Chicago, IL in 1957. After two years at Mary Rogers College, Maryknoll, NY, Sister Mary earned her B.S. in Pre-Med at Mount St. Vincent College, NY and her M.D. from Marquette School of Medicine (now known as Medical College of Wisconsin). After completing a Rotating Internship at the Los Angeles USC Medical Complex, she earned a Masters in Public Health & Tropical Medicine from Tulane University. In 1973, Sister Mary was assigned to Guatemala and received her Incorporation MD in the University of San Carlos. Guatemala. In Jacaltenango, Huehuetenango, she was engaged in Public Health Maternal and Child Care and a diocesan training program for rural paramedics, and was Clinical Professor of Rural Medicine at the University of San Carlos.

From 1993 to the present, Sister Mary has worked with AIDS prevention and in ministry to people living with HIV/AIDS. She received her Incorporation MD from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of El Salvador. She founded and administers an AIDS prevention program, CONTRASIDA (against AIDS) where teams of educators prepare and deliver orientation about the HIV/AIDS problem. She did the preliminary investigation for developing the Catholic Church’s response to AIDS and initiated the San Salvador Archdiocesan AIDS Team, legally incorporated in 2004 as the non-governmental organization “The Salvadoran Foundation for the Fight Against AIDS ‘Maria Lorena’.” There she serves as President of the Foundation, administrator, as well as physician in the Foundation’s AIDS clinic. In conferring the Lumina Award, Father Robert Vitillo said of Mary, “I know that you are a great example of Christ’s love and acceptance, especially to the young people whom you serve and challenge to serve and teach others.”

Sister Angela, from Donegal, Ireland, entered Maryknoll in 1957. She has an MA in theology from the University of San Francisco.

Sister Angela went to Hawaii in 1968 and taught and coordinated religion programs in two Catholic schools. She also directed retreat programs, coordinated Bread For The World, and served as chairperson of the Hawaii Council of Churches’ Nature division.

In 1978, Sister Angela went to Northern Ireland, where she ministered to people who sought healing at a reconciliation center run by a community of Christians.

After about a year, she returned to Hawaii and the work she had begun at the high school. From Hawaii, she went to Majuro in the Marshall Islands, where she taught in the Catholic high school.

Sister Angela went to Coelemu, Chile, in 1985. She ministered to people who had suffered through years of civil unrest and violence in their country.

In 1996, Sister Angela went to Kenya, where she was involved in pastoral work. She returned to the United States in 2001 and was pastoral agent at St. Barbara’s Parish in Brooklyn, New York. She also worked in the Hispanic RCIA program and ministered to prisoners and their families.

Sister Angela is currently in El Salvador, where she gives direct ministry to prison inmates, many of whom have no family. She serves at some of El Salvador’s largest prisons, helping out with liturgical celebrations, support groups, and individual spiritual direction.

Sister Anne Marie Emdin celebrated her 60th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12, 2017. She was born in Utica, New York. She graduated from St. Frances de Sales High School and worked one year in the Industrial Bank of Utica before entering the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation in 1957.

After working in both the Seminary and Maryknoll Sisters kitchens, it was not surprising that Sister Anne Marie Emdin received her B.S. in Dietetics from Fontbonne College, St. Louis, MO in 1967. She did her Dietetics Internship at Milwaukee General Hospital in 1968. In 1970, Sister Anne Marie Emdin was assigned to Hong Kong and studied Cantonese for two years. Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital was blessed to have Sister Anne Marie as Dietician and Purchasing Dept. Supervisor for four years, after which she changed positions to Pastoral Ministry and Public Relations in the busy Out Patient Dept. for five more years.

In 1979, Sister Anne Marie’s deep concern for the elderly began and continues to this day. In the Chinese culture, the elderly have always been treasured. However, refugee housing in crowded Hong Kong was built for the nuclear family, not the extended family, and many grandmothers found themselves in a lonely situation. So, besides her hospital work in 1979, Sister Anne Marie volunteered as a warden at the Helping Hand Temporary Shelter for the Elderly.

In 1982, Sister Anne Marie became Administrator of Caritas Ying Shui Home for the Elderly in Yuen Long, Hong Kong, a hostel designed to serve the elderly who were able to care for themselves. However, Sister Anne Marie took a drug addict whom no one else would accept and an autistic street sleeper with no known identity, whom they named “Po Chun” (Precious Pearl).

From 1988 to 1991, Sister Anne Marie’s administrative talents were used as center coordinator for our large community at Maryknoll, New York.

On her return in 1992, Sister Anne Marie moved to Macau and began, with the Pastor, Father Peter Chung, Our Lady of Fatima Elderly Center for folks who had been relocated from small-village living to high-rise apartments, which uprooted their social way of life. With a subsidy covering 70 people, the center managed to accommodate three times the number of seniors and more. Sister Anne Marie was a director of the elderly center until 2005.

Now, she is a volunteer who gives pedicure and manicure services, takes blood pressure, gives haircuts, and shares in the programs and outings. Since 90 percent of the elderly in her region are not Christian, some prayer and recreation is done with the Universal Buddhist Association.

Sister Susan Gubbins, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She was born in Evergreen Park, IL. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters in 1957. Sister Susan received a B.A. in Sociology in 1967 from St. Catherine’s, St. Paul, MN. That same year she was assigned to Hong Kong where she was Coordinator of the Group & Community Dept. of Caritas-Hong Kong as well as supervising youth activities in a Catholic Welfare Center.

In 1974, Sister Susan received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Chicago and was assigned to Indonesia in 1975 where she set up a community based health program; was a consultant for social work in Bandung hospitals and eventually a teacher in the National School for Social Welfare. As always, Sister Susan made friends everywhere and especially in her own neighborhood of Muslim families.

Sister Susan assisted at a program in Rome in 1980 geared to Christians for a better understanding of Muslims.

In 1991, Sister Sue Gubbins and four other Maryknoll Sisters opened a new mission in East Timor, an island in the Indonesian archipelago. They were invited to East Timor by Bishop Carlos Belo of Dili.  On Mardi Gras they arrived in the mountain parish of Aileu, with 18 villages, the first Sisters ever assigned to that parish. Slowly they got to know the people and their language and the many basic needs as they began their pastoral work.

As Sister Susan learned of the many people unable to walk, she and other trained technicians opened a shop for making special shoes and braces, run a profit-sharing basis among the workers.

In 1999, the Maryknoll Sisters had to evacuate East Timor and boarded the last plane to Australia.  While in Australia for six weeks, the Sisters worked with Timorese refugees. When the Sisters returned to Aileu, they found that the shop for shoes and braces, the community based clinic, the school, and their home were destroyed. Their comment: “We were exactly where we had started out with, nothing.”

When Sister Susan returned to East Timor from the States, she had a 20 hour plane ride to Australia. Probably as a result of that very long flight Sister Sue suffered aneurisms that resulted in extensive debilitation and only after months of physical therapy was she able to return to East Timor.

With help from friends in the States, Sister Sue started to rebuild the shop for aiding those with special needs for shoes and braces.

Sister Marcella Hoesl, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. She entered Maryknoll in 1957 from her home in Cincinnati, Ohio after graduation from Villa Madonna College (now Thomas More) Covington, KY. Her doctorate in theology is from the Institut Catholique of Paris, France.

Sister Marcella has served in Mexico, Guatemala, southern Sudan and Great Britain. She has taught at Maryknoll School of Theology, was Dean and Head of the Department of Mission at Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, England, an ecumenical consortium, and Assistant Director of the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Edinburgh, Scotland. She served briefly as pastoral associate at St. Ignatius Loyola Parish, Cincinnati before becoming Academic Dean and Professor of Systematic Theology at Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, Texas. This School of Theology has prepared persons of many nationalities for ministry within several cultures, and particularly within the Hispanic community.

Presently, as a retired theology teacher in the Maryknoll Sisters Eastern U.S. Region, she lives in Hamilton, OH, and is a regular reviewer of books for Missiology. Sister Marcella volunteers at St. Raphael’s Social Service Agency in Hamilton, devoted to helping the poor and homeless; facilitator for care-givers with Catholic Charities; and does care-giving for her cousin.

Sister Elizabeth Kato, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. Since joining the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation on September 2, 1957, Sister Elizabeth Kato of Hawaii has been continuing to make God’s love visible in her mission country, Japan. She arrived in Kyoto in 1967 and, following her language studies, she was assigned to Yokkaichi in 1968 where she taught at the Maryknoll Girl’s school. Her master of both the English and Japanese language allowed her to teach not only secondary school students but adults, as well.

In 1984, she focused her attention in Tokyo where she supervised a day center for skid row elderly while also teaching English at a Buddhist junior college, at a vocational training school for homeless teenagers, and a nursing school.

With the influx of migrant workers in Japan in 1999, she joined the solidarity  center in the Yokohama Diocese to work at the Philippine Desk. She accompanied migrant women who had been abused by their husbands or partners. She also translated case histories, newsletters and reports from Japanese to English.

Currently, Sister Elizabeth divides her ministries into four groups where each one caters to the needs of the people whom she shares her life with. She is part of Kalakasan, a migrant women empowerment center where she does the administrative, financial and networking tasks and participates in a bicultural children’s program designed for traumatized children who have witnessed their mothers being battered. She finds time to be part of the Oriens Institute for Religious Research publication Japan Mission Journal of which she is a member of the editorial board involved in editing, proofreading and planning for future articles. She also belongs to the Japan Catholic Lay Missionary Movement where she works with the formation team that trains people for overseas mission in Southeast Asia. She concentrates on helping them improve their English Communication skills. A member of the Philippine Center at Maryknoll Tokyo, she does migrant outreach, counseling and visiting migrants at police stations and detention centers, as well as engaging in religious education in Japanese for children of migrant workers who haven’t been able to fit into the regular parish system.

Sister Rita Keegan, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. Sister Rita Keegan’s good humor, optimism and “can do” spirit and her gifts of personal rapport and group facilitation have marked her leadership in the Maryknoll Congregation and in all her ministries in the U.S. and Bolivia.

Sister Rita lives in an economically depressed area in Oregon. She is a counselor/therapist at Four rivers Free Clinic and in the State Correctional Facility with individuals and groups in the infirmary for the severely mentally ill. Her work in Head Start is with Spanish-speaking families, mostly mothers and children individulally and in groups. She was a volunteer on the board of the Alcohol Recovery Center and continues as a sponsor for several in the AA Twelve Step Program. She collaborates on retreat events, mostly in the AA program. She also has private clients for counseling/spiritual direction.

Sister Rita hails from Richland Center, WI, and entered Maryknoll in 1957. Her first assignment was in the South Bronx, NY, where she taught at St. Anthony’s School. After five years, she was sent to Bolivia where she taught and later worked in a resettlement project in the jungle where several thousand peole were  forced from their homes by floods. In what had been nothing but forest and jungle, she helped inaugurate two colonies, Hardeman and Piray, a pastoral and community project sponsored by the joint efforts  of Catholic, Methodist and Mennonite churches administering an orientation program for the new colonists, mostly indigenous people. After 12 years, she moved from the jungle to charamoco in the mountainous area around Cochabamba and was part of a pastoral team who ministered to 36 small villages of Quechua Indians. Integration of community and human development were their priorities.

She served for three years as Congregational Personnel Director and on her regional leadership teams several times, as well as facilitating meetings for other regions and groups.

Sister Ardis Kremer, M.M. celebrated her 60th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She is a Southerner from Gulfport, Mississippi. After completing a year of college at St. Mary’s Dominican in New Orleans, she entered Maryknoll in 1957. She was assigned to Hawaii in 1968. At that time, the Marshall Islands were part of the Maryknoll Sisters Hawaiian Region and Sister Ardis’s first experience was in Majuro, an atoll-island in Micronesia. As tourism became an island industry, Sister Ardis helped the Marshallese turn their cultural shell art and weaving toward items attractive to the tourists. She also taught Religious Education to children and adults, and learned the values of their culture.

In Honolulu, Sister Ardis continued to be involved in catechetical and pastoral work. After receiving her LPN from Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu, she worked as a nurse in Queen’s Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital.

Since 1975 Sister Ardis’ home has been on the island of Molokai where she has served in Molokai General Hospital and worked with the Dept. of Health of the state of Hawaii. Sister Ardis has worked with adults, teenagers and children in health services. Presently she prays and works with the team that came to continue St. Damien’s mission on Molokai. Besides teaching fourth grade, Sister Ardis has taught Religious Education, high school and elementary for the past twenty years. At Our Lady of Sorrows, east end, Sister Ardis is a Presider at Communion Service when the pastor or deacon is not on the island.

Well known as an animal lover, Sister Ardis has healed more than one four footed creature! She is President of the Molokai Humane Society and assists the veterinarian occasionally when the assistant is unavailable.