Age 91
Sister Mary Sean Crimmins was a Sister of Mercy for 72 years. She was destined to be a religious sister. She was educated by the Sisters of Mercy at Mount Loretto in Council Bluffs, Iowa. She entered the community while in nurses’ training at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska.
Sister Mary Sean taught many future nurses. She served as the director of nursing and held surgical supervisory positions in various locations, including Denver, Colorado; Roseburg, Oregon; and Omaha, Nebraska. She even traveled to South America to Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana), where she served in the operating room and taught first-year nursing students. “Here, the mosquitos are as big as elephants and blood-thirsty as weasels,” she wrote to the sisters in Omaha.
Sister Mary Sean’s expert nursing skills proved invaluable upon returning to the United States. She provided pastoral care in Mercy hospitals in Des Moines and Centerville, Iowa, and Williston, North Dakota.
Sister Mary Sean’s years of healthcare ministry extended beyond the walls of hospitals. She cared for the elder sisters at the Denver convent and St. Catherine’s Residence in North Bend, Oregon.
In 1990, Sister Mary Sean returned to her hometown of Denver. There she served as a personal care provider working with the elderly in their homes through Life, Inc. and Senior Resource Center. She also served as a volunteer for the community at Marcella Manor. She then faithfully cared for her brother for two years.
In 2018, Sister Mary Sean moved to Omaha to be with her community. She said, of the move, “It is most comforting to know that we all have a place that we can call home.”