Sister Mary Pauline Oetgen, CSJ
80th Jubilarian
Sister Mary Pauline Oetgen, baptized Margaret Mary, was born in Savannah, Georgia on June 19, 1927. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1944 and was received into the novitiate in 1945. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the College of St. Teresa in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1960 and a master’s degree in elementary education administration from the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana in 1966.
Sister Mary Pauline’s ministry of 80 years has been devoted to education in her home state of Georgia. She worked at a number of schools throughout her tenure as both teacher and administrator.
She began teaching grade school in 1947 at Sacred Heart Grade School in Atlanta until 1950. In 1950, she taught at St. Mary on the Hill in Augusta, Georgia until 1955, and at St. Joseph in Marietta, Georgia until 1960.
In 1960, she was a teacher and administrator at St. John the Evangelist in Valdosta, Georgia until 1966. She worked as a teacher at Blessed Sacrament in Atlanta from 1966 until 1968, then the following year principal and teacher at Sacred Heart in Savannah, Georgia.
She returned to St. Mary on the Hill in 1969 as a teacher, then administrator from 1969 until 1975. From 1975 to 1989, she was a teacher at St. Francis Xavier in Brunswick, Georgia.
Returning to St. John the Evangelist in 1989, she was an administrator until 2003.
Sister Mary Pauline retired in 2004. During her retirement in Valdosta, she volunteered as a Eucharistic Minister and visitor of the elderly and sick from 2004-2019.
Since 2019, she has resided at Nazareth Living Center where she carries out her mission of prayer and presence.
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