She Kept Her Name

Miss Alice Tooley was born in Danville, PA, on June 15, 1896. There is some question as to her middle name—some sources list her name as Alice Crescentia and other sources list her name as Alice Maria. She was a student at the Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary (Scranton), where in 1914 she received 2nd place in the elocution contest for the Hugh Jennings Award with the title, The Soul of the Violin. In 1915 she graduated in the Academics program, and received the Hoban Medal for Christian Doctrine.

Alice entered the Scranton IHMs on February 11, 1921, and was received on August 2, 1921, and given the name Sister Alice Marie Tooley. She made her profession of vows on August 15, 1923. In her early years her assignments included St. Ann’s School, West Scranton; St. Ephrem’s School, Brooklyn, NY; Immaculate Conception School, Pittston, and Holy Rosary School, North Scranton. But she became an invalid and for years she was confined to St. Joseph’s Children’s and Maternity Hospital, where she died on May 1, 1946. Her funeral was held in the chapel at St. Joseph’s, and she was buried in St. Catherine’s Cemetery in Moscow, PA.

Her mother was sister to the mother of Sister Mary Ellen Brett, SSJ. It was from Sister Mary Ellen, Sister Alice’s cousin, that we received the photo of Sister Alice Marie and two crucifixes that belonged to Sister Alice Marie.