Sister M. Teresita Clarke, IHM
Sister M. Teresita Clarke, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Sunday, October 1, 1961 at St. Joseph's Hospital in Carbondale, Pennsylvania.
She was born on April 19, 1877 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and given the name Loretta. She was the daughter of the late William H. and Catherine J. Joyce Clarke. She entered the IHM Congregation on December 8, 1908, received the religious habit on April 13, 1909, and made profession of her vows on August 2, 1911.
Sister Teresita served as a teacher at the following schools: Immaculate Conception Elementary School in Lock Haven, PA, from 1911 to 1920; St. Rose Elementary School in Carbondale, PA, from 1920 to 1921 and 1924 to 1926; St. Joseph Elementary School in Renovo, PA, from 1921 to 1922 and 1928 to 1931; St. Ephrem School in Brooklyn, NY, from 1922 to 1923; St. Patrick Elementary School in Olyphant, PA, from 1926 to 1928; St. Alphonsus in New York City, from 1931 to 1934; All Saints Elementary School in Masontown, PA, from 1934 to 1936; St. Charles Borromeo Elementary School in Sugar Notch, PA, from 1945 to 1946; Our Mother of Perpetual Help Elementary School in Rocky Mount, NC, from 1946 to 1947; and St. John the Evangelist Elementary School in Pittston, PA, from 1948 to 1950.
Sister served as a catechetical instructor at the following: St. John the Evangelist Catechetical Center in Binghamton, NY, from 1938 to 1942; St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pittston, PA, from 1942 to 1945; St. Patrick's Catechetical Center in Milford, PA, from 1947 to 1948; and Holy Name of Mary Catechetical Center in Montrose, PA, from 1951 to 1957.
Sister Teresita also served in child care for resident children at St. Joseph's Shelter in Scranton, PA, from 1936 to 1938.
She served as a prayer minister at St. Peter's Convent in Scranton, PA, from 1957 to 1958, and at the Marian Convent in Scranton, PA, from 1958 until the time of her death.
She was preceded in death by three sisters, Adelaide, Lillian, Helen E. Hendricks, and a brother, William Harold.
She is survived by nieces and nephews.
Interment is at St. Catherine’s Cemetery in Moscow, Pennsylvania.
Memorial contributions may be made to support the retired IHM Sisters c/o the IHM Sisters Retirement Fund, IHM Center, 2300 Adams Avenue, Scranton, PA 18509.
Archival reflection:
Loving, gentle memories will linger with use as we recall the cultured religious lady who was our Sister M. Teresita Clarke. To chat with her was a joyful experience, to receive a letter from her was a lingering delight, and to live with her was a sharing in the culture and refinement she so happily diffused. One by one God called Sister Teresita's dear one to Himself, and she generously and holily submitted to His divine will. She is a well-remembered teacher, for she gave to others the wealth of religious thoughts she so humbly possessed. In her better days, her reading was intensive and and the truths she culled from saintly authors, she generously passed on to others. Before she entered our Congregation she had traveled to Europe and to the South Pacific, establishing branches of the International Correspondence Schools in London and in New Zealand. She who was so unworldly had "seen the world," and she joyously renounced it for God's portion. That portion she lived in full, always radiating around her the spirit of loving charity and complete submission to God's holy will. God's portion was her inheritance; may it be her joy forever.
