By Glynnis Grainger
A Mercy religious sister who would have celebrated her Diamond Jubilee next year passed away peacefully on 17 October 2010 at Catherine McAuley Nursing Home, Wembley after a long illness.
Sister Mary Bosco RSM was born Margaret Costelloe in the seaside town of Kilkee, County Clare, Ireland on 11 August 1923.
She was 87 years of age.
Her Requiem Mass was celebrated in Our Lady of Mercy Chapel, at Mercy Aged Care, Wembley on 21 October and the eulogy was delivered by Sr Marcella Blake.
Sr Bosco left Ireland for Western Australia in May 1948 on the ship Strathaird and arrived in Perth in mid-June, commencing her religious training.
She had a sister, Sr Mary Annette, who had entered the Victoria Square Convent 10 years earlier – a teacher, who had a great welcome for Margaret.
Sr Blake said in her eulogy: “Margaret had a great sense of service to others and, in her novitiate training, she came to believe that she would like to become a nurse.
‘Having completed a four year course in religious life, she went to St Anne’s Mercy Hospital, in Mt Lawley.”
Sr Bosco was professed on 2 February 1951 and was a loved member of the Sisters of Mercy Perth for 59 years.
“As a general nurse, Sr Bosco was a highly intelligent woman,” Sr Blake said in her eulogy.
“Her General Nursing training and Midwifery, and a Coronary Care Course at Royal Perth Hospital, gave her great scope to perfect her profession . . . she was totally committed to her patients.”
Sr Bosco also studied at the WA Institute of Technology (WAIT), later named Curtin University of Technology in 1987.
A person of few words, Sr Bosco pursued her medical knowledge with great professional skill and was very well liked by all.
Patients loved her, her sensitivity to their needs and her generosity with her time.
In 1990, she retired to Ward Clerk position and did a spirituality course at Kairos.
She kept in touch with the staff with whom she had worked, but had no regrets about moving on, accepting God’s Will for her.
Sr Bosco kept in close touch with her family in Ireland – her last holiday with them was in 2004.
A very positive person, a special calmness pervaded her right up to her final illness and last days.
Her cousin, Sr Mercedes Griffin, is her remaining link with the Mercy Congregation.
‘Having completed a four year course in religious life, she went to St Anne’s Mercy Hospital, in Mt Lawley.”
Sr Bosco was professed on 2 February 1951 and was a loved member of the Sisters of Mercy Perth for 59 years.
“As a general nurse, Sr Bosco was a highly intelligent woman,” Sr Blake said in her eulogy.
“Her General Nursing training and Midwifery, and a Coronary Care Course at Royal Perth Hospital, gave her great scope to perfect her profession . . . she was totally committed to her patients.”
Sr Bosco also studied at the WA Institute of Technology (WAIT), later named Curtin University of Technology in 1987.
A person of few words, Sr Bosco pursued her medical knowledge with great professional skill and was very well liked by all.
Patients loved her, her sensitivity to their needs and her generosity with her time.
In 1990, she retired to Ward Clerk position and did a spirituality course at Kairos.
She kept in touch with the staff with whom she had worked, but had no regrets about moving on, accepting God’s Will for her.
Sr Bosco kept in close touch with her family in Ireland – her last holiday with them was in 2004.
A very positive person, a special calmness pervaded her right up to her final illness and last days.
Her cousin, Sr Mercedes Griffin, is her remaining link with the Mercy Congregation.