November 27, 2024

A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Kathryn Healy, a Gray Nun of the Sacred Heart, formerly Sister Catherine Marie, was celebrated Nov. 23 in the Redeemer Sisters’ Chapel 521 Moredon Rd, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. Burial followed in Resurrection Cemetery, Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

Sister Kathryn, 92, died on November 14, 2024. A native of Buffalo, New York, (St. Mark’s Parish), she spent the majority of her years of ministry in her home state.

One of three daughters and a son born to James N. and Kathryn (Laughlin) Healy, Kathryn Veronica Healy entered the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart in 1950 after graduation from Holy Angels Academy the previous year.  

After an initial four years in the classroom, two in Lowell, Massachusetts and one year each in Jackson Heights, New York, and Atlanta, Georgia, she began her long and dedicated service in the field of health care.

She received a bachelor’s degrees in English and nursing cum laude from D’Youville College, Buffalo, and a master’s degree in nursing from Duke University.

With the exception of two years as Infirmary Nurse at the Grey Nuns Motherhouse, her service was centered in the Diocese of Ogdensburg for over 40 years. She was stationed at A.B. Hepburn Hospital where she served as Staff Nurse (1960 to 1963), Head Nurse (1965-66) and Assistant Director of Nursing (1977-84). St. Joseph’s Home was her place of service as Administrator (1966-70) and In-Service Education and Clinical Specialist (1976-77). From 1972-75 she was Associate Professor of Nursing at SUNY Canton.

Interest in providing special care to the dying took her to Potsdam in 1984, where she founded and served as executive director of Hospice of St. Lawrence Valley for 10 years.

Again moving to serve those most vulnerable, she was chaplain at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center from 1994 to 2007.

Retiring from this position, she continued to serve as a volunteer until November 2009, when she moved to the Grey Nuns Motherhouse in Yardley, Pennsylvania. There, she volunteered in various types of Intracommunity service until October 2015, when she moved to Holy Redeemer Lafayette.

Sister Kathryn received several awards in her years of health care service, including Canton-Potsdam Hospital Service Award; Woman of the Year, Potsdam Business and Professional Women; Distinguished Service Award from Potsdam College; AAUW “Agent of Change” Award; and, in 1990, the Bertrand H. Snell Award from Clarkson University.  She was only the fifth person to receive this latter award created in 1981 given to “individuals of outstanding merit”.

Donations in her memory may be made to the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, 928 Jaymor Ave, Suite C-120, Southampton, PA 18966 www.greynun.org or to Hospice of St. Lawrence Valley, 6805 US Hwy 11, Potsdam, NY 13676 www.hospiceslv.org.  Arrangements by Beck Givnish Funeral Homes.