Mary Rebecca Campbell, CSJ
April 22, 1928 - October 21, 2025
Generous, open, loving
Albert and Ann (McGinnis) Campbell of Atlanta, parents of four sons, welcomed their daughter, Margaret Ann, on April 22, 1928. Later, two more sons completed the family. Margaret attended St. Anthony Catholic School, where she was taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ) from the Georgia province. Margaret graduated from Sacred Heart High School, also staffed by the CSJs. She shared that she really hadn’t thought about becoming a sister until sometime in her last year of school, when she realized that the sisters “were a great influence” in her life.
Since the sisters in the Georgia province were so few, their interested women were sent to St. Louis for the postulate and novitiate, and when completed, returned to Georgia to engage in ministry. Margaret entered the community in 1946, receiving the habit and the name, Sister Mary Rebecca, in March 1947.
In 1949, she began her ministry teaching primary children at Sacred Heart Grade School in Savannah, Georgia, followed by St. Joseph Male Orphanage in Washington, Georgia (1951). For the next 10 years, Sister Mary Rebecca went back and forth from Atlanta to Marietta, Georgia, continuing to teach primary education. She taught at Sacred Heart School, Atlanta (1952); St. Joseph Grade School, Marietta (1954); St. Anthony’s Grade School, Atlanta (1957); and again at St. Joseph in 1960.
In 1962, her ministry went in a new direction, as she was sent to be an assistant principal at St. Mary Grade School in Littleton, Colorado. She then became principal in 1969. During this time, Sister Mary Rebecca earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Fontbonne College (1963). She then earned her master’s degree in elementary administration from Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1971.
In 1977, Sister Rebecca returned to Atlanta to teach at the Village of St. Joseph. The following year, she became the principal and director of education. Her next call to ministry was as principal at St. Francis Xavier Grade School in Brunswick, Georgia in 1984. Four years later, she took a year-long sabbatical at the University of San Diego in San Diego, choosing to study whatever spirituality was available.Deciding that her time of classroom teaching was at an end, Sister Mary Rebecca moved to Valdosta, Georgia, in 1989. Sister Pauline Oetgen had accepted the principal position at St. John the Evangelist Grade School, and Sister Mary Rebecca offered to be her secretary and bookkeeper.
In 2003, she took a year-long sabbatical and stayed in Valdosta. Retiring from “active duty” the following year, she was willing to serve as a volunteer, visiting the elderly and the sick where she could. She remained in Valdosta until 2019, when she moved to Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, joining the sisters there in the ministry of prayer and presence.
MEMORIES
From Ann Rotermund
Sister Rebecca and I were missioned at the Village of St. Joseph in Atlanta. She was my principal … and was great to work with. She seemed to love teaching and connecting with the children and staff. She was always the same, constant, funny spirit, and you could count on her ... God rest her soul.
From Sister Barbara Volk
I got to know Sister Rebecca when I went to do
art with residents on the first floor of St. Joseph's at Nazareth. She was always glad to see me. ... She particularly enjoyed my visit when we baked cookies each month. ... She was a very warm and loving friend! May she enjoy her heavenly reward.
By Sister Helen Oates