Obituary of SISTER THERESA (TERRY) KEHOE, OSB

SISTER THERESA (TERRY) KEHOE, OSB

Sister Theresa (Terry) Kehoe passed peacefully from this life on March 15 at the age of 95.

Theresa was the middle child of 10 born to Mary and Paul Kwiatkoski in Tolstoi, Manitoba. She is survived by her sisters Agnes Budy (Wally) and Bernice Birchall; her other siblings Fran Murray, Vickey Sanford, Helen Traen, Rose Hoplock, Joe and Stan Kwiatkoski and Casey Kehoe passed away earlier.

Formed in a religious family, Sister Terry was a faith-filled woman who loved to pray with and for others as a ministry in her elder years. She was deeply devoted to her family. Terry had many fruitful years of ministry in spite of bravely facing treatment for bipolar disorder.

She joined the Benedictine community at St. Benedict’s in Arborg, Manitoba in 1958 after some years of working as a seamstress and attending Business College in Oshawa. After entering the community S. Terry taught school at St. Benedict’s Academy, Marymound, and St. Joseph the Worker Schools in Winnipeg, Mapleton School in Selkirk and Assumption School in Oyen Alberta. One year she was pleased to be chosen to spend the summer months in Fiji, instructing teachers, an experience which she found very rewarding. Sister Terry also worked as an auditor for the

Winnipeg Archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal. For four years, S. Terry worked as Ward Clerk at St. Joseph’s Residence and enjoyed eight years at St. Theresa’s Parish, West St. Paul serving as Secretary. Terry loved her summers volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.

Sister Terry was known as a very social person who loved parties and conversation. She could tell jokes with skill; the sisters sometimes asked her to add to a community meeting with a joke and she always obliged. Her final days were spent in Maples Care Home where she was happy and grateful to the staff for their care.

The Sisters are grateful to Darlene Patterson, the community’s health care aide, and to the staffs at Victoria Hospital and Maples Personal Care Home.

Funeral Liturgy was celebrated in the chapel at St. Benedict’s Monastery with interment in the Monastery Cemetery.

Cropo Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Donations in Sister Terry’s memory can be made to Sisters of St. Benedict at 419 Youville Street, Winnipeg. R2H 2T4