Quinn, Mary Alice

• Sister Mary Quinn, SOS

Born 1 September 1902 in Saint John, NB, daughter of James Quinn and Katherine Fitzpatrick; entered 2 February 1928; first vows 15 October 1929; final vows 23 June 1933; died 23 November 1980.

Mary grew up in the Irish community of the Redemptorist parish of St. Peter’s in the north end of Saint John. She attended St. Peter’s girls school, St. Vincent’s high school and commercial course at Mount Carmel Academy. She was a graduate registered nurse when she entered at the age of 25. Her novitiate training was interrupted to return home during her father’s serious illness. She professed first vows on October 15, 1929.

For 14 years, Sister Quinn was assigned to the two rural Alberta hospitals, starting with St. John’s Hospital in Edson (1929-1930; superior 1934-1942), where she took final vows on June 23, 1935. In 1941 as an extraordinary visitor, Sister Quinn travelled to each mission on behalf of Sister General Margaret Guest, meeting all the sisters. At the 1943 General Chapter, she garnered the second largest votes and was elected to the General Council and Assistant Sister General. She assumed many duties of the ailing Sister General Margaret Guest in 1946 while also fulfilling the tasks of superior (1943-1948) of the Motherhouse. In the 1948 Chapter and the subsequent 1954 Chapter, she was elected as Sister General. For those 12 years, Sister Quinn directed the community with a calm and steady hand. She had a friendly relationship with Father Daly, who knew her as a teenager when he was posted in Saint John.

During her two terms, she oversaw the community at its peak of 124 sisters, including 100 with final vows. The missions had increased to 20 after the opening of Alberta teaching missions of Peace River (1951), Manning (1952) and a residence (1953) in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The teaching mission of Wexford, east of Toronto, was closed, and construction projects were undertaken to modernize the residences in Vancouver, Edmonton and Winnipeg. After Father Daly’s death in 1956, Sister Quinn ushered the administration into full self-government. With the institute on a sound financial footing, she focused on the continued and upgrading of the education of the sisters through university degrees, professional diplomas and certificates.

After two terms as Sister General, Sister Quinn was elected as a councillor on the General Council (1960-1966) in the 1960 Chapter and was appointed as superior of the Motherhouse. Ill health caused her to resign from the General Council in 1964, and she returned to Vilna to recuperate. For the next few years, she moved to Regina (1965-1966), back to Vilna (1966-1968) and the Edson hospital (1968-1971) following a nursing refresher course. A year after moving to Halifax (1971-1973), she broke a hip and returned to Alberta, living in Edmonton (1973-1976) and Edson (1976-1977), where she had nursed in the three SOS hospitals – the original three-storey frame building, the 37-bed brick building, which opened in 1932 and the modern 50-bed hospital, opened in 1969.

In continuing poor health, Sister Quinn joined the retired sisters at Niagara Retirement Manor in St. Catharines, Ontario, where she died on November 23, 1980. The well-attended wake service at the Motherhouse was followed by the funeral mass in the Motherhouse chapel, concelebrated by Jesuits Edward Dowling, Edward Tyler, and Redemptorists, Toronto Provincial Superior Francis Maloney, former Provincial Superior John Lockwood, religious broadcaster Matthew Meehan and philosophy professor Joseph Owens, also a fellow Saint Johner and St. Peter’s parishioner. Her body was buried in the community’s plot at Mount Hope cemetery, Toronto.

Created by F Rousselle, May 1, 2025.

Biographical sketch adapted for brevity from complete biography written by SOS congregational archivist MC Havey.