RIP: New York nun born in Mayo remembered following passing

SR Edna O’Connor, RSHM, of Marymount Convent, Tarrytown, New York, who died recently, was
formerly of Knockadoon, Irishtown, Mayo.

She was 90 years of age and had been a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary for 73 years.

Sr Edna was daughter of Michael and Mary Julia O’Connor, Irishtown, and was born on
February 6, 1935.

She received a BA from Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY, and an MA from St Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana.

Following in the footsteps of her sister, Maeve, a year earlier, Sister Edna entered the Religious of the
Sacred Heart of Mary at the RSHM Novitiate in Tarrytown, NY, on June 3, 1950.

She made her first vows on February 13, 1952, in Butler Memorial Chapel, Marymount, where she later made her final vows on August 25, 1957.

She taught at St Thomas Aquinas School, Bronx, New York (1952-1956), Academy of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Sag Harbour, NY (1956-1957), and Marymount Junior School, Arlington, Virginia (1957-1959).

She was an assistant to the Mistress of Novices at St Joseph’s Novitiate, Tarrytown, NY (1959- 1965).
During that time, she spent a year (1961-1962) at St Mary’s College, Notre Dame, doing graduate studies in Theology.

She returned to classroom teaching, first at Mother Butler Memorial High School, Bronx, NY (1966-
1971), and then Marymount International School, London, England (1971-1978).

When the RSHM decided that each province should research areas somewhere in the world where the
province could serve, Sister Edna became a member of the new Eastern American Province foundation in rural Southwest Virginia.

She lived in Speedwell (1978-1985) where she ministered through community outreach and was director of a Head Start program. She taught in Ahoskie, North Carolina as a member of the similar Western American Province foundation in North Carolina (1985-1991).

Sister Edna served the Eastern American Province as a provincial councillor (1991-1997) and she
transferred to the Zambezi Region in 1998. There, she ministered in Zambia, first in Choma (1998-2002) and then in Lusaka (2002-2016).

Missioned to Lusaka, she volunteered at Mother Teresa’s orphanage for one year.

In 2016, she transferred back to the Eastern American Province and moved to Marymount Convent,
Tarrytown, New York. She was a member of the Convent community at the time of her death.

Following Mass of the Christian Burial at Marymount Convent, Tarrytown, New York, interment took
place at Mount Calvary Cemetery, White Plains.

Sister Edna, who was predeceased by her brothers and sisters, Jimmy, Michael, Mary Bernadette (Sister of St Therese), Noel, Jarlath, Brendan, Anne, and Sister Maeve O’Connor, RSHM, is survived by many nieces and nephews, and by the members of her religious family.