KONG KONG (SE): Maryknoll Sister Therese Howard died on November 22 at the congregation’s Eden Community in New York, the United States, at the age of 94 after 65 years of religious life.
Sister Howard was born in 1927 in Janesville, Wisconsin, She graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology [now Carnegie Mellon University] in Pittsburgh in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1950, she obtained a Certificate in Medical Technology at Allegheny General Hospital where she worked until she entered Maryknoll on 2 September 1956.
She made her first vows on 24 June 1959 and her final vows on the same date in 1965, at Maryknoll. She taught chemistry for a year at Maryknoll Teachers College. She was then assigned to study medicine at St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, where she graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1964. She did a year of internship at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Elizabeth, New Jersey, followed by three years of residency in general surgery at Carney Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1967, Sister Howard was assigned to Hong Kong. She immersed in language study during her first year and then, in 1968, she began to serve part time as a medical officer at Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital in Kowloon. She was the physician-in-charge of the ward for chronically ill patients suffering from cancer, stroke, pulmonary and heart conditions.
She trained in Natural Family Planning, which opened up a whole new ministry for her and 1973, she joined the executive committee of the Birthright Society which provides services to unwed pregnant women. She ran one of five centres of Natural Family Planning where her contributions in Medical Ethics were sought after.
She also represented Maryknoll Hospital on the government committee that studied and implemented community nursing service throughout Hong Kong. From the beginning of her part time service as a medical officer in 1968 to her retirement in October 1994, 26 years in all, Sister Howard could boast of being the longest serving Maryknoll Sister at that stage of the hospital’s development.
When she looked back on her experiences, she remarked: “As a missionary I had come to Hong Kong with material skills, but I came to realise, the most important equipment I took with me was a listening heart.”
When she retired from medical ministry, Sister Howard returned to Maryknoll and brought her experience to bear in the Communications Office where was director from 1995 to 2004. She wrote about the mission work of the Maryknoll Sisters and many of her articles were published.
