“Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.”
Romans 12:13
Sister Mary Rosaleen Driscoll, 96, a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth (SCL) for 77 years, died on October 11, 2024. Named Irene at birth, she entered religious life on August 14, 1947, upon which she took the name Mary Rosaleen.
Sister Mary Rosaleen, the seventh child of John J. and Anne Elizabeth (née Scholes) Driscoll, was born at home on the farm on December 17, 1927, near Fruitland, Idaho. Born into a family that began each day praying the rosary together, Sister Mary Rosaleen’s devotion to Mary and her deep Catholic faith quickly took root. Also, great joy united and delighted Sister Mary Rosaleen and her family as they celebrated their Irish and English heritage in song around an organ that her Grandmother Driscoll had willed to them.
At the age of six, she decided she wanted to achieve perfect school attendance. Except for a bout with measles, a case of the flu, and attending her sister’s wedding, she kept her promise to prioritize school. The Driscolls moved their daughter to Sacramento to live with her sister Mary’s family so she could attend a Catholic high school, which was unavailable in their town. She then graduated from St. Francis of Assisi High School in Sacramento, California.
Following graduation, Sister Mary Rosaleen moved to Denver to help her sister, Ruth, who was expecting the birth of her second child. She attended Loretta Heights College to study pre-nursing and when she transferred to Saint Joseph Hospital for more hands-on training, met the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. During a nurses’ retreat, she decided to enter into the novitiate for the Sisters.
After her novitiate, Sister Mary Rosaleen finished nurses’ training at Providence Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1952. She served in hospitals in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wyoming. She took time between assignments to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Saint Mary College in Leavenworth. She further studied at the University of Montana, Bozeman, and the University of Washington in Seattle.
Our Blessed Mother was very important to Sister Mary Rosaleen from the beginning of her life, and she often wore blue to honor Mary. She once wrote that her personal mission was to share Mary’s love and faith with all she met and ministered to along life’s journey. She was devoted to the Sacred Heart, the Immaculate Heart, and the Infant of Prague. Sister Mary Rosaleen desired to reveal God’s healing love and presence to all she served. Always greeting people with a smile on her face and a positive attitude, her loving care and gentle disposition brought comfort to all her patients.
For most of her ministerial life, she specialized in pediatric and obstetric nursing. Throughout her lifetime, Sister was always concerned about the health and welfare of others, especially those with little to no resources. The last 30 years of her active ministry, before retiring from health care in 2022 and moving to Ross Hall on the Mother House campus in Leavenworth, Sister served at Marian Clinic, which provided medical and dental services to low-income families in Topeka. Her many years of nursing prepared Sister Mary Rosaleen for this direct service with those in need, meeting individuals in the same loving and caring manner as she did in the hospitals. In this new healing ministry, she was readily accepted and quickly became known as the “Mother Teresa” of Topeka.
Sister was very close to her family, diligent in writing letters and making phone calls as she often lived at a distance. She delighted in attending family reunions.
Sister Mary Rosaleen was preceded in death by her parents, sisters Mary Church, Ruth Kehoe, Rosalie Gau, Lauretta Hays, and Patricia Bate, and brothers Donald, Raymond, Joe, and Bernard. She is survived by many nieces and nephews, including her niece and goddaughter Sister Maureen Kehoe, a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth, and her SCL Community.
There will be a vigil service at 7 p.m., Wednesday, November 6, 2024, in Ross Chapel, SCL Mother House, Leavenworth. Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated in Ross Chapel at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 7, 2024. Interment follows in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Mother House grounds. Memorial contributions can be made to the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, 4200 S. 4th St., Leavenworth, KS 66048.
