Sister Rosemary Statt

Born: Oct. 9, 1937 Profession: Sep. 27, 1969 Death: Oct. 31, 2009

Sr. Rosemary Statt, youngest daughter of the late Raymond W. And Elizabeth Gleason Statt, died at Oakwood, retirement center of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, Atherton, CA, on October 31, 2009. She is survived by three sisters, Mary Elizabeth Romson, Nancy Heffernan, Ellen Miller, and a brother, Rev. Thomas R. Statt, all of Rochester, NY.

Sr. Rosemary and her sisters graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Prince Street, Rochester. She received her B.A. From Manhattanville College in 1962. While doing course work at New York Theological Union, she taught students from Harlem. She made her profession of final vows in the Society of the Sacred Heart at Greenwich, CT, in 1969.

In the early 70’s Sr. Rosemary obtained a masters degree in education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and soon began work as religion teacher in Uganda, East Africa, until the political situation there forced her return to the States. After three years of teaching in Hells Kitchen on Manhattan’s west side, she rejoined the Kenya/Uganda Province of the society for ten years. Returning to the States in 1989, she began a career as a social worker with Catholic Charities in San Jose, CA, where she received a ten-year citation.

Wherever she went, Sr. Rosemary brought fun and a great sense of humor. Her courageous spirit went with her, when, in 2009, illness required that she move to the Society’s retirement center in Atherton.

See a beautiful reflection on Sister Statt's life here.