Sister began her education in the first grade of Notre Dame Academy on Dolores St. in San Francisco. Because her brother Frank suffered asthma the family moved to San Rafael the next year and Maura skipped to the third grade under the Dominicans at St. Raphael School. A year and a half later the family moved to Berkeley to facilitate Mr. O'Connor's trip to San Francisco each day. Thus, Kathryn O'Connor was registered in St. Augustine School where she first met the Sisters of the Holy Names. Sister Miriam Josepha was her teacher for four years--gentle and devoted--followed by a strict eighth teacher that discouraged Maura from continuing in a Catholic school. And so she continued the ninth grade at Willard Middle School in her neighborhood and Berkeley High school for the last three--a school that at that time was characterized by refined and well-behaved students.

In high school Sister went around with a fine group of boys and girls who often met at church before going to movies, dances, hiking, swimming and picnicking together. Some of these acquaintances were her closest and lifelong friends. Sister loved dancing and swimming and (in her own words) "was unusually good at both." In 1927, following in her mother's footsteps, she matriculated at U.C. Berkeley and had four happy, social and productive years. Both women studied languages--her mother Greek and Latin; Maura, Spanish under some of the most well-known professors of her day. During her days at U.C. she broadened her social life and met more lovely girl friends. In her junior year she started going to the Newman Club and a year later she was "going steady" with a nice young man. After three years she broke up with him because she tired of him. This hurt him terribly. Sister enjoyed going out with men very much. She said that "there are probably few Sisters who had so much romance before entering religion" but that it was not to her credit and regretted the harm she did to others.

Before continuing to describe the varied life that Sister had before entering, I'd like to share what she had to say about her family. Both her parents were native Californians of Irish descent who never went to Catholic schools but took their faith for granted. Her mother was a "real intellectual, with a great love for study. She had made Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year at U.C. and received a master's degree in Greek and Latin in 1906. [She] was very kind, generous, self-sacrificing, serious-minded and rather sensitive. All the household tasks connected with rearing a family were hard for her. Mrs. O'Connor loved club work and was the first president of Holy Names High School Mothers' Club as well as president of the Newman Hall Mothers and St. Mary's High School Mothers' Club. [Her] father was an extreme extrovert with an Irish sense of humor. He had a very practical nature and was much more interested in business than in intellectual pursuits. [She inherited her humor] from him but had [her] mother's timid and sensitive nature. Her father was a strict disciplinarian of the "old school" who insisted on prompt and respectful obedience but he mellowed with age, becoming more lenient and less strict.

Of her brothers and sister, Sister had this to say: My beautiful and popular sister, Mary, was very close to my heart and we had much happiness together and with our mutual friends. We had fun at home, too. Our brother, Jim, like Mary, had a warm, charming personality. I was very shy and much less aggressive than Mary or Jim but we were very companionable. Frank her older brother was very quiet and George seemed very young to fit in but both were very kind.

After U.C. Sister earned a general elementary teaching credential from S. F. State. She disliked student teaching and had a terrific amount of discipline trouble with one fifth grade. Since it was difficult to find teaching positions during the depression Sister studied typing and shorthand at public high schools and Armstrong College of Business. This led her to positions in the business world: her first, the State personnel office in San Francisco. She worked there for two and half years and says of that period of her life that she "became so fond of office work and the pleasant association of the business world that [she] no longer cared about looking for a teaching position." [She] loved the excitement and independence of the working young woman's life.

During her working years she overcame her shyness a great deal and enjoyed meeting people and talking to them . She prayed to Our Lady daily to help her overcome her difficulties and she answered her prayers with the hundredfold. Her following position took her back to Haviland Hall at Berkeley where she was secretary to four professors. She prayed for this position and once again her prayers were heard. She spent six happy years there in a very congenial environment

World War II took a toll on the family. Jim who was in the Navy was killed in the war leaving a wife and young daughter. Mary's husband, Robert Ramsaur, in the Army Air Force, was taken prisoner in Germany for two years, George in the Navy contracted polioencephalitis after returning from the South Pacific and hovered between life and death for a month.

While still working at U.C. Berkeley, Kathryn O'Connor became engaged to a chemist, a Catholic and fine in many ways. But she had trepidations. After the wedding date had been set and Maura had resigned her job at U.C., John decided that they had better not get married. Thank God! (as she wrote.) She had wanted to call it off before but John talked her out of it. In her opinion he was very materialistic in many ways and too domineering.

Her great admiration for the Navy led her to Treasure Island at the Naval Training School where she was secretary in turn to the Executive Officer and later to the Commanding Officer. She was transferred to the Operational Training School when the Naval Training School was closed and became the secretary to the Civilian Personnel Officer, the position she had when she left to enter religious life.

Sister loved to travel and visit different places. In California she vacationed in Yosemite, Donner Lake and Tahoe. In 1939 she and her sister Mary visited Chicago where Jim was working. A year and a half before entering, a close friend and she traveled for a month in Chicago, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. But probably the trip that she recalled more than any other were the two months that she had in Europe in 1969. I was chosen to be her companion and our plans were made long distance since she was at St.. Monica's and I was at Holy Names High. The purpose of the trip (due to the generosity of her mother) was for these two Spanish teachers to visit Spain. But one thing led to another: since we were on the Iberian Peninsula we should go to Portugal and Fatima; since we were Catholics and daughters of the Church we should see Rome (and other parts of Italy). My Jesuit cousin was studying in Tubingen so why not go to Germany to see him,

but... Switzerland was closer so we went to both countries. Then it wouldn't do to be so close and not visit France and Lourdes. And finally if we were to go to the land of our forefathers we would be too close to England to miss it. In her latter years when I visited Sister Maura the wonderful time we had together was often the topic of our conversation.

Religion became a force in Sister's life rather early on when she attended week-end summer retreats during her high school years. These were offered by the San Jose Dominicans, a community to which her father's cousin, Sister Mary Augustina, belonged. Sister was concerned about her attending public school and insisted on her making these retreats. It was after her second one that Maura became a frequent communicant and she thought vaguely of entering the convent. But she did nothing definite about it.

While working at Treasure Island Maura decided to make the Miraculous Medal novena and ask our Blessed Mother to direct her to the right vocation. After nine weeks were completed, she felt that the religious life was where she belonged but still could not make the break. Sometime after, Mary's baby, Jimmy, became gravely ill and Maura promised God that if the baby were spared she would apply for entry into the convent. It was the same Jimmy who years later was in Vietnam during our trip to Europe for whom she prayed the Stations every day during our trip.

Good to her word Maura applied and tells how gracious and encouraging both Mothers Ursulina and Margaret of Cortona were to her. She was extremely happy after receiving her letter of acceptance. She announced the news to family and friends, most of whom felt this was the right thing for her and she was given a royal send-off. Her parents and her sister accompanied her that winter day of January 21, 1948.

She writes that the postulancy was a real test of her vocation. The restrictions on personal freedom, the constant answering of bells and getting into lines, the minutiae of external observances, the loneliness of being in an unfamiliar world with girls just out of high school, the humiliations suffered because of [her] slowness in learning the rubrics of the Office... the laughs at her mistakes, and the physical fatigue from going steadily from morning until night with no real relaxation all conspired to make the Novitiate a trying time. She was beset with temptations and tormented by scruples but she prayed hard to Our Lord, Our Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and Mother Marie Rose. Her saving grace on the natural level was her sense of humor. Some of her humor was intentional but most of it occurred when she was not trying to be funny. One such was the day she presided at Office and bowed to the back door of chapel as she intoned, "In odorem..."

Of that period of her life Sister wrote: "I am glad now that religious life was so hard for me at the beginning. This purified my intention, humbled me, and drove me closer to God." As life went on it became supernaturally sweeter and the day of her last vows, August 5, 1954, found her in seventh heaven, serene and blissful. Discipline problems in her classes were a real penance at first, although experience helped. The fact that students came to her with their problems and confidences gave her more confidence as a teacher. With the exception of St. Bernard High, Sister Maura taught at all of our high schools. She loved teaching Spanish and business subjects but felt that she was not sufficiently grounded in theology and found teaching religion a cross. She asked to be excused from that assignment.

In 1958 when Sister was at St. Andrew's she came north because her father was ill and her brother Frank died suddenly. Sister remarked on how kind and sympathetic the Sisters and students were. She felt closer to all her Sisters and more benevolent towards all their students because of the thoughtfulness that they showed her during those times of stress. She said that one appreciates religious life at these times more than ever, that she was really "sold" on religious life and "she don't change places with nobody" quoting a little Mexican sister at Mission San Jose.

In 1981 at the age of seventy-one Sister Maura began an apostolate that she loved that covered twenty years at Highland Hospital. She was pastoral minister to Hispanics for nine years. In 1990 she became Catholic Chaplain to all patients and her last five years she spent as volunteer chaplain. She often took the bus to her work and the Sisters from Holy Names High would pick her up. She loved using her Spanish and speaking to the young mothers whom she often presented with medals and a receiving blanket. She was highly appreciated, was written up in their magazine, Perspectives, and at her 50th jubilee in 1999 she received a Resolution from the Board of Supervisors of Alameda County noting her loyal and dedicated work as volunteer and hospital chaplain. Countless women who had a language barrier benefitted from Sister's ability to communicate in their language with compassionate care and attention.

Sister was a wonderful friend to many going back to her grammar school days when she was known as Okie by many of them. She was a wonderful letter-writer and remembered people on their special occasions. She was very hospitable and the slightest reason--a Mexican dinner--would be a reason for inviting her friends to dinner.

Any Sister who ever lived with Sister Maura knows her penchant for telling stories that would bring laughter to the group. As I closing I think it would be appropriate to tell one that I heard the other day which she would have enjoyed: in a hamlet in the western part of Ireland from where the O'Connor tribe hailed, there was the ubiquitous pub to which the faithful came each day. To their surprise one day, a stranger appeared, entered the pub and ordered three beers. He would go over to the corner, sip his beer and be off. This happened day after day and the publican and his clients became curious. So Mr. Murphy went over one day and asked him if the three beers had any significance. "They do," said he. "My two brothers went off to America but before they did we promised that we would remember one another with a beer for each one just so as to keep the family together, at least in thought." That satisfied the publican until one day he was dismayed that the fellow came in and only ordered two beers. Thinking that some ill had befallen one of the brothers he went over and said to the fellow, "I'm sorry for your trouble. "Oh" he responded "but I haven't had any trouble." "Then why only the two beers?" queried the pub owner. "Ah, sure" he responded, "I decided to give up beer for Lent."

Maura, I hope that when the Gates of Heaven opened to you that you heard the hearty "Cead Mille Failte" of our ancestors. Que vayas con Dios y que disfrutes de Su Gloria para la Eternidad en compania con Jesus, Jose y Maria.

Convent of the Holy Names Los Gatos, California March 31, 2007

Sister Miriam Daniel Fahey