A memorial Mass will be celebrated for Maryknoll Sister Marie Patrice Kehoe at 5 p.m., Aug. 22, at Sacred Heart Church in Honolulu.
Sister Marie Patrice Kehoe, MM, who served primarily as a teacher, then a nurse, in Hawaii for nearly 50 years, died August 9, 2014, at Maryknoll Sisters Home Care III, Maryknoll, NY. She was 91 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 72 years.
Born on May 10, 1923, in New Rochelle, NY, to Raymond F. and Mary Wilde Kehoe, and christened Patricia Marie, she was one of six children born to the couple.
As a child, she attended Holy Family Parish, New Rochelle, with her family, graduating from Cathedral High School, New York, NY, in 1940.
Patricia Marie entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation at their motherhouse in Maryknoll, NY, from St. Anthanasius Parish, Evanston, IL, on December 8, 1941, and received the religious name of Marie Patrice, which she retained for the whole of life as a Maryknoll Sister. She made her First Vows on June 30, 1944, and Final Vows on June 30, 1947, both at the congregation’s motherhouse.
Following completion of teacher training at Maryknoll College, Maryknoll, NY in 1947, Sister Marie Patrice taught for a year in Boston’s Chinatown before being sent to Hawaii, where she taught math and religion at Maryknoll High School in the Punahou district of Honolulu from 1948-1970.
She then returned to the mainland United States, where she took courses in theology at Manhattan College, New York City, then enrolled at Pace University in 1971, where she earned an R.N. in 1973.
Sister Marie Patrice then returned to Hawaii where she worked at St. Francis Hospital, Honolulu, from 1974-1976, followed by six years serving as a nurse-teacher on Majuro in the Marshall Islands from 1976-1982.
Returning once again to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Sister Marie Patrice worked as a nurse in the Maryknoll Sisters Nursing Home, from 1982-1985. She was then sent back to Hawaii, where she worked as a nurse for Maryknoll High School, in Honolulu, as well as wherever else her services were needed in the region, from 1985-2007. She had lived at the motherhouse since 2007, volunteering in various capacities, particularly with ill and elderly Sisters from 2007-2009.
Sister Marie Patrice, who donated her body to science, is survived by a brother, Michael A. Kehoe of Springfield Center, NY, and a sister, Mrs. Ann Marie Chapman of Washington, DC.