Sister Mary Kenan, RSM

 

She's touched many lives

Published: Monday, October 19, 2009

Bill Lawrence of Clifton Park laughs with Sister Mary Kenan McGowan during her retirement party Sunday at the Grafton Veterans of Foreign Wars Post. (Photo by J.S. Carras — The Record)

by Dave Canfield
The Record

Click to enlarge

Sister Mary Kenan McGowan

GRAFTON — Over a decade ago during his U.S. Army career, Dave Huskie awoke in Samaritan Hospital’s hospice ward suffering from what would eventually be diagnosed as the sometimes-fatal hemorrhagic fever. He remembers little about his hospital ordeal, but he clearly recalls opening his eyes at one point to find Sister Mary Kenan McGowan in the room.

She didn’t say much, he recalls. But she didn’t need to.
“I remember waking up and her sitting next to me,” said Huskie, of Petersburgh, who would eventually recover. “That was an important hour for me.”

Judging by the words spoken at her well-attended retirement party Sunday, Sister Kenan had offered that sort of comfort for decades prior in her Grafton parish and as a teacher at Catholic Central High School, among other schools. And despite now being technically retired, she is expected to do the same in the coming years.

“She has been the rock and the stable influence in this parish community for years,” said Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard at the retirement party held at Grafton’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post.

At that event, Huskie handed the Sister the Army Commendation Medal he received during his service, noting she deserved it more than he did. She always makes sure to say a prayer for the military, he said.

Sister Kenan was first received by the Sisters of Mercy in 1952. She then taught at several schools, including St. Paul the Apostle in Troy and others in Albany and Waterford, including a lengthy stint at Catholic Central.

There she was instrumental in organizing the school’s phone drive to raise money. She had a way of getting people to want to participate, said Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino, who went to the school.

“That’s what makes Sister Kenan so special,” she said. “It’s the fact that (she) draws so many people in and makes them think they can make a difference.”

She also made a difference in what is now Parish of Our Lady of the Snow. She was able to secure a new church for Grafton during the mid-1990s, parishioners said, largely through her ability to unite people and get them on board for the project.

“She mobilized everybody,” Huskie recalled. “She’s a glue that kind of holds people together.”

A steady stream of people made their way to the Sister’s table Sunday to say hello and offer their thanks. The VFW Post was stocked with a wealth of food. What was left at the end of the day was to go to feed the homeless.

“That’s another thing she started,” Huskie said. “If we don’t eat it, someone eats it.”

“She’s a remarkable woman,” added his wife Debbie. “I can’t even begin to imagine how many people she’s touched.”

Kenan said she plans to keep active despite her retirement by continuing to volunteer at the church. The avid New York Yankees fan plans to remain in Grafton for the next few years, where parishioners expect to see her face despite her technical retirement.

“All of us who know you well know that (retirement) is not a word in your vocabulary,” Jeanne Schrempf, director of religious education for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, told Sister Kenan during the party.

For her part, given a packed house at the VFW ranging in age from children to the elderly, does the Sister think she’s made a difference to many over the years?

“I hope so,” she said modestly.

Dave Canfield can be reached at 270-1290 or by e-mail at dcanfield@troyrecord.com.