Stories from the Archives
From Avoca to Tillamook to Portland
How did she get from Pennsylvania to Oregon? Why was a Sister, not assigned to Portland, OR, buried there? Lots of questions and now we have some of the answers. In the 1890s the pastor in Tillamook, Oregon, wrote Mother Mary Jackson asking that Sisters of the Immaculate Heart be sent to Tillamook to staff St. Alphonsus Academy. In 1897 Mother Mary Jackson assigned six sisters, including Sisters Mary Edward Tuey, Superior, and M. Timothy Watters, who arrived in Tillamook on September 25, 1897. Tillamook is about 72 miles west of Portland.
Sister M. Timothy Watters was born in 1873 and baptized Mary; she lived on Grove Street in Avoca, PA; entered the IHMs in 1894, and was professed in 1897. From newspaper accounts and letters from Sister Mary Edward to Mother Mary Jackson from 1898 to 1899, we understand Sister Timothy was sickly, suffering from lung problems, and the remedy was cod liver oil and a liquid mixture including creosol (a colorless oily liquid, having an agreeable odor and a burning taste). The convent and Sister Timothy’s room needed to be kept warm at all times, so a fire was constantly kept burning; and she was unable to participate in any of the activities of the school. It was hoped that a change of climate from the East Coast to the West Coast might help improve her health, but to no avail.
When she died there was no embalmer or undertaker in Tillamook, and to get ice to preserve the body would take too long. The Catholics had just recently laid out a little cemetery at the edge of the forest and Sister Timothy was laid to rest there. Sister’s grave was never without flowers. Several years later her remains were removed to the Sisters’ plot in Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Portland, OR. And that is how our Sister Timothy got from Avoca to Tillamook to Portland.
So, the next time you are in the grocery store and see Tillamook ice cream or Tillamook cheese, we hope you will whisper a little prayer for Sister Timothy Watters and all the sisters who served in Tillamook, OR.
Sources of information
- The Tribune, (Scranton, Pennsylvania) 27 June, 1899, p. 8, printed on January 16, 2024.
- The Times Tribune (Scranton, Pennsylvania), June 27, 1899, p. 7, printed on January 16, 2024.
- Letters from Sister Mary Edward Tuey to Mother Mary Magdalen Jackson years 1898-1899.
