Sr. McMahonA memorial Mass for Sister Sarah McMahon, CSJ, was celebrated June 15 at Nazareth Living Center in south St. Louis County. Sister Sarah died June 8 at Nazareth Living Center. She was 99 years old.
Sister Sarah was born on March 21, 1924, in Savannah, Georgia, to John Raymond and Margaret (Gallagher) McMahon. She was received into the Georgia Province of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1943 as Sister Marguerite Marie. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history/education in 1959 from the College of St. Teresa (now Avila University) in Kansas City, Missouri.
Sister Sarah taught elementary education for 47 years. She began in Georgia at Mt. St. Joseph School in Augusta (1944-51; 1952-53), Sacred Heart Grade School in Savannah (1951-52; 1955-58), St. Joseph Grade School in Marietta (1953-55) and St. Mary on the Hill Grade School in Augusta (1958-63). In 1963, she went to teach in St. Joseph, Missouri, at St. Patrick Grade School. Two years later, she returned to Georgia and taught at St. John the Evangelist Grade School in Valdosta.
In 1966, Sister Sarah taught for four years in Kansas City at Visitation Grade School. She went back to Marietta to teach for one year at St. Joseph Grade School, and then spent one year at Little Flower Grade School in Mobile, Alabama.
Sister Sarah moved to Michigan in 1972, where she served for the next three years. She taught the first two years in Marquette at St. Michael Grade School with her last in Hancock, where she taught religious education at the Catholic Religious Center Hancock-Houghton.
Returning to her home state again, Sister Sarah served as the religious education coordinator in Athens at St. Joseph from 1975-77. The following year, she taught once more at St. Mary on the Hill Grade School.
In 1978, she taught for one year at St. Joseph Grade School in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Then, she taught for two years at Valle Grade School in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. From 1981-85, Sister Sarah taught at the Village of St. Joseph in Atlanta. In 1986, she served again at Little Flower Grade School in Mobile for a few months as a tutor before transitioning to teacher until 1988.
Sister Sarah then moved to Missouri, where she taught for one year at Sacred Heart Grade School in Festus, followed by two years at Immaculate Conception Grade School in Union. From 1991-94, she served her CSJ community as a staff member for the St. Joseph Provincial House in St. Louis.
In 1994, Sister Sarah began her last five years in education as a tutor at St. Francis de Sales Grade School in Denver, Colorado. She moved to Nazareth Living Center in 1999 and continued to carry out her ministry of prayer and presence until her death.
Sister Sarah donated her body to science.