Mary Pauline Oetgen, CSJ
June 19, 1927 - July 4, 2025
Energetic, dedicated, hard-working
On June 19, 1927, Glenn and Helen (McCormick) Oetgen of Savannah, Georgia, welcomed their daughter, Margaret Mary, into her family of four brothers and a sister. The children went to Sacred Heart Grade School, where they were taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Margaret Mary entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet at Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Augusta, Georgia, on September 7, 1944. She received the habit and the name, Sister Mary Pauline, on March 19, 1945.
In her oral history interview, Sister Pauline shared:
The first thing I had to do was finish high school ... there were sisters assigned there at Mt. St. Joseph, and I had to take classes. ... Sister Bernardine [Mary Bernardine Torby] and Sister de Sales [Fleury] and Sister Mary Raymond [McMahon], they all helped me with subjects for high school. I finished my high school there, and I got a diploma from Mt. St. Joseph.
The Georgia Community was considering closing the novitiate in Augusta, since there were only three novices. In July 1945, the novices were sent to St. Louis to join with about 60 or so novices present there.
It was a big change, believe me, but it was wonderful. We enjoyed very much being there. We had classes that we would not have gotten down in Georgia. ... We spent our novitiate there and then went back to Augusta. Mother Vivian [Curtin] was our novice mistress.
Sister Pauline earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the College of St.Teresa (now Avila University) in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1960. She earned a master’s degree in elementary education administration from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana (1966).
Sister Pauline served all of her 70 years in education in Georgia. She began her ministry in Atlanta in 1947, teaching at Sacred Heart Grade School. Her next assignment was at Mt. St. Joseph Grade School (now St. Mary on the Hill) in Augusta from 1949 to 1955. She then went on to teach at St. Joseph Grade School in Marietta. Five years later, Sister Pauline ministered at St. John the Evangelist Grade School in Valdosta, where she was a teacher and principal until 1966. Returning to Atlanta, she taught at Blessed Sacrament Grade School for two years.
Sister Pauline served as a teacher and principal at Sacred Heart Grade School in Savannah for a year before moving to Augusta. There, she served at St. Mary on the Hill Grade School as a teacher (1969-71) and as principal (1971-75). She then taught at St. Francis Xavier Grade School in Brunswick for the next 14 years. In 1989, she returned to St. John the Evangelist, where she completed her ministry in education after serving as principal for 13 years. After nearly a year-long sabbatical, she retired in 2004 and served as a volunteer.
In 2019, she moved to Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis and continued her mission of prayer and presence.