Sister M. Clarissa Dunleavy, IHM

Sister M. Clarissa Dunleavy, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Saturday, June 13, 1964, at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, MD.

She was born on January 14, 1890 in Scranton, PA, and given the name Mary E. She was the daughter of the late Anthony L. and Isabelle “Belle” L. Atkinson Dunleavy. She entered the IHM Congregation on August 15, 1910, received the religious habit on August 2, 1911, and made profession of her vows on August 2, 1913.

Sister Clarissa served as a teacher at the following schools: All Saints Elementary School in Masontown, PA, from 1913 to 1925; St. Dominic Elementary School in Oyster Bay, NY, from 1925 to 1933; St. Agnes Elementary School in Baltimore, MD, from 1933 to 1939; St. Rita Elementary School in Dundalk, MD, from 1939 to 1943; and Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Elementary School in Forest Hills, NY, from 1943 to 1950.

Sister served as principal at St. Agnes Elementary School in Baltimore, MD, from 1933 to 1939; and St. Rita Elementary Schoolin Dundalk, MD, from 1939 to 1943.

From 1950 until the time of her death, Sister Clarissa served as a teacher at St. Bernardine Elementary School in Baltimore, MD.

She was preceded in death by two sisters.

She is survived by two sisters, Helen Hess of Ellenville, NY, and Annette Kinnear of Baltimore, MD, two nieces, and several cousins, including Reverend William Dunleavy, who will be celebrating the funeral mass locally.

A Solemn Requiem Mass will be offered on Monday, June 15 at 8:15 a.m. at St. Bernardine’s Church in Baltimore, MD. Friends may call at St. Bernardine’s Convent, Mount Holly Street, Baltimore, on Sunday, from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The funeral will be Tuesday, June 16 at 9:30 a.m. at the Marian Convent in Scranton, PA, followed by interment at St. Catherine’s Cemetery in Moscow, PA. Friends may call at the Marian Convent, on Monday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Archival Remembrance:

Sister M. Clarissa Dunleavy was distinguished by many admirable qualities. She was kind, generous, observant, a truly community Sister. Doubtless, she will be best remembered for her prayerfulness. All who lived with this gracious Sister will testify to her love of prayer. Who can count the blessings which her prayers brought to our community and to all for whom she so fervently prayed? Daily, she spent hours before the Blessed Sacrament both in our exercises of Rule and in the periods she managed to save from her daily routine. Her deep and fervent devotion was an inspiration to all who were privileged to life with her. Her last illness brought apparent unconsciousness; but her gentle spirit had endeared her to her Sisters, who spent themselves in being at her bedside, and to the nurses who had readily decided that she was a chosen soul, very dear to God. May our prayerful remembrance of this gentle nun be long-lived, and may the example of her fervent life draw all of us closer to our divine Spouse.