Born in St. Louis to immigrant parents from Ireland, she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1937 and made her final profession in 1942. She received a bachelor’s degree in American/European history from Fontbonne College in 1951 and a master’s degree in American/European history from St. Louis University in 1957.

Sister Teresa’s first teaching assignment was in 1939-40 at the St. Louis Cathedral School in St. Louis. She also taught in the St. Louis Archdiocese at Assumption School in Mattese, 1949-50, St. Joseph’s Academy High School in Frontenac, 1954-58, St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Florissant, 1960-68 and St. Joseph Vocation Center in St. Louis, 1975-77. Other teaching assignments were in Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas and Georgia and in Missouri in Rolla and Kansas City.

Sister Teresa transitioned to parish work, serving at Our Lady of the Presentation Parish in Overland from 1977-83 and St. Bartholomew Parish in Hazelwood from 1983-88. She served the next eight years as an assistant at the Cardinal Ritter Institute Senior Day Care Center in Shrewsbury before retiring and serving as a volunteer in the Sisters of St. Joseph Senior Ministry Office. At age 89 Sister Teresa retired from that volunteer work and moved to Nazareth Living Center.

Sister Teresa donated her body to science.