Age 93
Sister Carolyn Snegoski was a Sister of Mercy for 68 years. Sister Carolyn grew up on a farm and attended Glencoe Public High School. In 1946, she held several office positions, including 2.5 years in an Indian Reservation hospital. Following laboratory and x-ray technology studies in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she accepted a position at Mercy Hospital in Roseburg, Oregon. There, she met the Sisters of Mercy, and following a sense of calling, she entered the community in 1953 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where she professed vows in 1956.
Sister ministered as a laboratory and radiology technician from 1959–73 and earned an M.S. in 1972 from the University of Minnesota. She then joined the faculty of the College of St. Mary in Omaha. Sister returned to Oregon in 1984 as an administrator of Mercy Nursing Center in Roseburg, and then in 1987, she became the director of the Franciscan Renewal Center in Milwaukie, Oregon. During this time, she also focused energy on efforts to protect and restore the integrity of the earth’s ecological systems. She became a master gardener and shared the bounty of her labors with people in need. She was known for her curiosity and love of learning. Her interest in nature began as a child when she learned the names of birds she saw. Sister Carolyn expressed her creativity in photography, painting, and woodcarving using these gifts to share her love of nature, especially birds. In 2018 she retired to Marian Oaks, where she continued pursuing her interests and generously sharing them with others.