Age 93
Sister Mary Bernadette Haydenwas a Sister of Mercy for 73 years. She was a graduate of St. Joseph’s College, Standish, earning a B.A. in Business Education. She taught in the parochial schools of the Diocese of Portland: St Patrick’s and St. Joseph’s in Portland; St. Mary’s and St. John’s in Bangor; St. Mary’s in Houlton and in Westbrook; St. Theresa’s, South Brewer; Immaculate Conception, Calais; and Catherine McAuley High School, Portland. During her years as an educator, she prepared many to fulfill their professional lives.
From 1974 until 1997, she held the position of executive secretary to the president of St. Joseph College and served as staff person on the College Board of Overseers. Sister Bernadette worked with four presidents during her tenure at St. Joseph’s College. Sister retired from the active apostolate in 1999 but continued in volunteering as an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist at the Maine Medical Center, tutoring individuals and visitation of the elderly and the ill.