Maryellen Tierney, CSJ
March 3, 1939 - November 9, 2024
(S. Thomas Maureen)
Generous, dedicated, kind
On March 3, 1939, Thomas and Mary (Barry) Tierney of St. Louis welcomed their first child, a daughter, whom they named Maryellen. When it was time for her to start kindergarten, there was no Catholic school in the area, so she caught the Kirkwood streetcar that took her to St. Joseph School in Clayton. After also finishing first and second grade there, her family moved and she attended third grade at St. Roch’s. The rest of her elementary education was at St. Barbara's school, staffed by the School Sisters of Notre Dame and the Sisters of St. Joseph.
In September of 1957, she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph. On March 19, 1958, she received the habit and the name Sister Thomas Maureen. In 1960, she began two years of study at Fontbonne College (now University) as a junior sister living on the college campus. Sister Maryellen was then assigned to American Martyrs in Kingsford, Michigan, to teach primary school and oversee the choir. In 1964, she earned a bachelor’s degree in business education from Fontbonne and was sent to teach typing, shorthand, general business, business machines and business English at the Academy of Our Lady in Peoria, Illinois.
Her next ministry was teaching primary at St. Paul School in Negaunee, Michigan (1967). S. Maryellen returned to St. Louis the following year and taught at St. Jude school. In 1970, she was appointed principal at St. Thomas More Grade School in Kansas City, Missouri.
S. Maryellen earned a master’s degree in liturgy from the University of Notre Dame in 1971. She left the school system entirely in 1972 and accepted a secretarial position in St. Louis at the St. Joseph Generalate. She continued in that position, receiving the title of administrative assistant in 1981. Three years later, she was hired as an executive assistant at the Carondelet Health System, also in St. Louis.
Sister Marion Renkens shares the next part of S. Maryellen’s journey:
Maryellen accepted my invitation to be the administrative assistant to the motherhouse administrator, so began 14 years of dedicated service in January 2000. Maryellen was not only the most competent assistant but a dear friend.
Sister Maryellen retired in 2014 and continued to volunteer. She moved to Carondelet Manor at Nazareth Living Center in 2023. She donated her body to science.
MEMORIES
Sister Mary Joyce Bringer:
She was always gracious when I came to St. Louis. She had a welcoming spirit. When she had a leadership role, she was still that quiet welcoming spirit. She was truly a Sister of St. Joseph. She lived our charm.
Sister Barbara Jennings:
Maryellen was a friendly, kind, gentle and able assistant administrator at Carondelet Health and at the Carondelet Motherhouse. ... If I had a deadline for the Health Care updates from St. Joseph Hospital in Kirkwood or as director of Midwest Coalition, she made sure the plans were going well, we had everything we needed for a meeting.
By Sister Helen Oates