Across the generations, two share much in common

Two Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet celebrating jubilees this year connected through one of the sister's sister, who is a sister.

That is, Sister Mary Collis, 98, and Sister Deborah Timmis, 45, met through the former's sibling, who is also a nun: Sister Jeanne Anne Collis, CSJ. In 1986, Sister Debbie, who was then a member of the Daughters of St. Paul, was working on the island of Oahu and encountered Sister Jeanne Anne.

"Sister Jeanne greatly influenced my decision to change orders," Sister Debbie said.

Book her

Sister Mary, a native of Utica, holds two graduate degrees, one in Library Science and the other in English. For some years, she taught English and art, but she loved being a librarian.

"I love to read, and I love books," she said, ticking off periodicals that are also on her reading list: America, Atlantic Monthly, The Catholic Worker newspaper from New York City, The Evangelist and The Catholic Sun, the newspaper from her home diocese of Syracuse.

"Looking back over 94 years of reading books," she noted, "I must say I am getting a wonderful hodgepodge of memories. I don't think I could name a 'favorite,' book as I've enjoyed so many wonderful books in my lifetime."

Early start

Sister Debbie, a native of Florida, joined the Daughters of St. Paul when she was 15. After meeting some of them at a bookstore they owned, she was hooked and decided to attend high school at the convent.

The Daughters of St. Paul focus on publishing and running religious bookstores, so Sister Debbie spent many years working in a bindery.

When the order switched to computers, she was trained in computer networking and traveled to the order's stores to set up computers. That territory included Hawaii, where she met Sister Jeanne.

Shared feelings

Although the difference in their ages spans more than 50 years, Sister Debbie, who now teaches at St. Mary's School in Ballston Spa, said that she and Sister Mary share a strong sense of learning.

"Sister Mary continues to pursue knowledge through reading," Sister Debbie explained. "For me, it's through teaching students about computer technology, which I love."

Sister Debbie said the two also "share the same sense of call to ministry and helping others. I have tons of faith in the kids I work with. I believe that some of them will answer God's call; I'm not worried about that at all."

(According to Sister Jeanne, Sister Mary is known around the Provincial House as a "crackerjack Scrabble player." But Sister Mary demurred with "I don't know about that. There are quite a few very good Scrabble players here.")

(3/23/06) [[In-content Ad]]