Nun has known three centuries

With the 21st century on the horizon, 103-year-old Sister Alice Madden, RSM, has stopped hoping for world peace.

"I never expect to have peace in the world," she told The Evangelist. "When I was younger and we were growing up, you expected no fighting. Today, there's fighting around the world, I think."

Troy childhood

Her parents ran a corner grocery store in Troy and sent their daughter to St. Joseph's School, across the street from their home. The Mercy Sister proudly called it "the most popular school in Troy."

"I used to run around, but when I got older, I did help out" at the store, she remembered. "I used to do the books. My mother would say, `Oh, I don't want to do them,' almost like a cry. I didn't, neither!"

Horses and house calls

She also noted that it was not unusual in her day for a neighborhood doctor to make house calls. "We knew he was there, and if we'd get sick, we'd say, `Call doctor so-and-so," she said matter-of-factly.

Sister Alice can't remember what made her choose the Sisters of Mercy -- after graduating from Troy Business College, she said, "I just came in" -- but declared herself "satisfied" with her 65 years of religious life.

Teaching career

Sister Rita Carr, RSM, activities director at McAuley Residence in Albany (where Sister Alice now lives), boasted that Sister Alice was a wonderful teacher. "I really did make them" learn, Sister Alice conceded.

Having experienced a century of education, she believes that parents are less conscientious than they once were about their children's education.

"In those days, things were different. Some people were very careful to send the child to school," she stated. "Today, I don't think they're as careful. In some ways, I think it's more difficult for the teacher."

Three centuries

She shrugged off the fact that her life is about to span three centuries. "I don't think much about it," she said of her age. "I don't get fazed with it."

Although Sister Rita said that Sister Alice likes to spend time with people at McAuley Residence, the centenarian doesn't have plans for the millennium: "It doesn't hit me with anything that I should do."

(12-23-99) [[In-content Ad]]