Sr Mary Eucharia Jackson

Died 16 July 2019

Sr Eucharia was born Mary Jackson to James Jackson and Sarah Howie in Cessnock on 25 January 1923.  She was the loving sister of Jean, her twin, and Beryl.  After completing her education at St Joseph’s Lochinvar she returned there to enter the Novitiate on 26 December 1940, was given the name of Sr Mary Eucharia of St Stephen and was professed as a Sister of St Joseph on 6 June 1943.

She then embarked on her life of service in years at Lochinvar, The Junction, Cardiff, Charlestown, Summer Hill (Sydney Archdiocese), Merriwa and Morisset before moving in 2005 to a less demanding life, firstly to Lochinvar and then to the Tenison Apartments in Swansea.

Most of her years in active ministry were spent as a teacher of Infant classes.  She also ministered as Mistress of Novices, as a pastoral worker in parishes and as a teacher of English and good friend to migrant families. Sr Eucharia was a hospitable presence wherever she lived and worked.

Sr Eucharia was blessed with an ability to make friends easily and she brought enthusiasm and joy to all that she did.  She had a special love for the parish at Charlestown, her home on four occasions.  In all she spent seventeen years in Charlestown which was also the place of her last appointment before moving into retirement.

The Tenison Apartments in Swansea was her home for the last fourteen years of her long life of ninety-six years.  It was there that she died peacefully on 16 July 2019 in the seventy-sixth year of her religious Profession.

Brian Mascord, Bishop of Wollongong and a former student at St Joseph’s Primary School, Charlestown presided at the Mass of Christian Burial on 23 July 2019 in St Patrick’s Church at Lochinvar.  He was joined by Fathers Paul O’Neill, Gerard Mackie, Maurice Cahill and Peter Street.  On leaving the church Sr Mary Eucharia was laid to rest in the Sisters’ section of the Lochinvar cemetery.

Based on the Words of Remembrance given by Sr Lauretta Baker