Sister Mary Bernard Miessen
1917-2008

All of Sister Mary Bernard Miessen’s life was spent in the State of Washington. When she died at St. Joseph Residence in Seattle on March 17, 2008, she was ninety years of age and had been professed for almost seventy-two years. Sixty-seven of those years were lived with the Dominican Sisters of Edmonds, Washington, and the last five years with the Adrian Dominican Sisters.

Both the wake and the funeral were in Seattle. The wake was held on March 25 at Assumption Convent, and the funeral liturgy was celebrated on March 26 at St. Joseph Residence. Several nieces and other relatives were present, as well as her many Dominican friends. All of her sisters and brothers, except her brother Anthony, had preceded her in death. Anthony, however, was not able to be present. After the funeral, Sister Mary Bernard was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Seattle.

Sister Mary Bernard was born on April 28, 1917, in Chelan, Washington, and christened Marguerite. She was the daughter of Jerry and Gertrude Mary (Reznicek) Miessen. Six siblings followed her into the family: three sisters (Jeri, Blanche, and Bernice) and three brothers (Victor, Anthony, and Donald).

When she was four years old the family moved to Wenatchee, where she began her education at Wenatchee Public School, and made her First Communion at St. Joseph Parish. She was in second grade when another move was made, this time to Seattle. There she attended several elementary schools—St. Mary, St. Edward, St. John, Blessed Sacrament, and St. Alphonsus. Her secondary years were spent at Holy Angels High School with the Everett (later Edmonds) Dominican Sisters, and she graduated in June 1935.

At the time of Marguerite’s entrance, the Dominican Motherhouse was in Everett, Washington. She became a postulant at St. Dominic Convent in Everett on July 1, 1935. On January 7, 1936, she received the habit and her religious name, and on January 8, 1937, she and her group professed first vows. For the rest of that year and the next year, she was kept at St. Dominic Convent as a helper in the laundry.

In 1938 she began her thirty-year teaching ministry. Her first assignment was to Holy Angels Academy in Seattle, where she spent two years with second and third grade children. She was then moved to St. Benedict, also in Seattle, where she taught second grade for five years. As a result of summer study, in 1945 Holy Names College in Seattle awarded her a Bachelor’s Degree with a major in education.

She was assigned to St. Mary School, Aberdeen, in August 1945 as a teacher of fifth and sixth graders. After a year, she was transferred to Our Lady of Good Help School in Hoquiam, teaching third and fourth graders for four years. Her next assignment sent her to Bremerton, where again she taught primary grades for three years.

In 1953 she returned to Seattle, and taught primary children at Holy Angels Academy for two years, and sixth graders at St. Benedict School for a year.

She went back to Everett in 1956, but to Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, where she taught sixth grade for a year. She then returned to Holy Angels Academy in Seattle for three years, again with primary children. In 1960 she was at St. Mary School in Aberdeen with sixth graders, and in 1961 at Our Lady Star of the Sea School in Bremerton with grades two and four. She did postgraduate work in religious studies during the summers, and in 1960 received a certificate from Seattle University.

She must have been considered very capable in the field of religious education. A writeup of her life that appeared in the Edmonds Journal for Spring 1967 contained this paragraph:

In 1958 the [Seattle] Archdiocese school office requested that she be relieved of parochial school duties to serve the Archdiocese in teaching methods in Religious Education to the laity. This was not feasible at the time, so she taught methods in teaching Religion in numerous parishes throughout the Archdiocese on Saturdays and evenings.

The next four years of her teaching ministry were in Seattle: two years each at St. Luke School and St. Alphonsus School on the primary level.

In 1968, she began her service to the Northern Deanery of the Archdiocese of Seattle in Oak Harbor and Anacortes on Whidbey Island, where she “assisted in organizing schools of religion in rural areas.” After four years, she returned to St. Benedict in Seattle as religious education coordinator.

For twenty years, from 1973 to 1993, she served in parish ministry. For five years she ministered in Oak Harbor and Coupeville, then moved to Tacoma for eight years at Holy Cross Parish. On December 19, 1978, she and her companion, Sister Mary Edmund, were profiled in the Whidbey News-Times of Oak Harbor. Part of what was written about Sister Mary Bernard is below:

Sister Mary Bernard is not new to North Whidbey. She is a “veteran” of ten years with an impressive record of service, including national advisor of Knights of the Altar and advisor on the local level. She also serves on the board of Island County Council on Aging, acting as treasurer of that body.

She taught full time … in the Seattle Archdiocese as a Master Catechist before coming to Oak Harbor… This year she is coordinator of the elementary CCD, which includes about 300 children plus 130 high school age students, a handful for any program. She is well known and loved in the community, a familiar figure on her bicycle, with friends in all faiths.

In 1986 Sister Mary Bernard spent a half year at St. Catherine Parish in Seattle. The last years of her ministry were at St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Port Townsend.

She retired to Assumption Convent, Seattle, in 1993. The writeup in Edmonds Dominican described her interests as “training altar servers for the liturgy, calligraphy, rosary making, and genealogy.” In March 2006 she moved into St. Joseph Residence, also in Seattle, where she lived until her death.

At Sister Mary Bernard’s funeral on March 26, Sister Catherine Olds, Prioress of Dominican West Mission Chapter, extended sympathy and summarized Sister Bernard’s life and ministry. She had heard many stories from Sister Mary Bernard’s friends, and mentioned:

Sister Bernard will remain in our hearts as a humble, gentle, and kind, woman of the Lord with a generous heart, a warm smile, and a newspaper on her lap.

She will be remembered by, oh, so many men who in their youth were taught how to be altar boys by Sister Mary Bernard. She had a special love for them and them for her.

She will be remembered for her “surprise appearance” on the day of the merger between the Edmonds and Adrian Congregations as, with the help of her nieces, she appeared wearing her new dress and hair style instead of her habit!

She will be remembered sitting on her three-wheel motorized vehicle with orange flag, riding down the street.

She will be remembered assisting IPJC [Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center] by folding Amos booklets; praying with a Northwest Group once a week for priests; attending First Friday Mass for the protection of the unborn; making hundreds of rosaries for both children and adults.

We will remember her continued gentleness as illness caused her to lose her independence and she needed assistance and care.

As Sister Catherine said, “Sister Mary Bernard was a gentle woman whose smile warmed our hearts and whose presence blessed our lives.” She will be missed; but those who loved her can remember that God gave her the privilege of going home to eternity during Holy Week. There she will celebrate Easter with the One in Whose honor the feast was instituted.