Called to a life of service, sister still makes difference 56 years later

Sister Jean Marie O'Shea's resume spans 56 years of service to her faith and her community.

Elementary school teacher. Religious education tutor. Caretaker of homeless children.

Today O'Shea works at Blessed Sacrament Church in West Ashley, where she has taken on the elderly care ministry. She coordinates a dozen people who visit the elderly, care for the infirm, bring Holy Eucharist to the homebound and drive those unable to take themselves to doctor's visits and other errands.

"Instead of doing extraordinary things, she does little things extraordinarily well," said Sister Colie Stokes, who works with O'Shea.

The church keeps a list of 17 nursing homes and 16 shut-ins, mostly parishioners, to whom they regularly visit and administer sacraments.

"Rain or shine, she brings me communion every Sunday," said Clarence Shade, who at age 94 has trouble getting to church. "She's a very nice person."

In 1951, at age 19, O'Shea joined the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy, and began her life in service to the community and the church.

"Jean Marie is very quiet and goes about doing her thing without making a big to-do about it. Probably the thousand and one things she does for people we will never know," said Sister Bridget Sullivan, O'Shea's longtime friend and the superior general of their religious order.

"No matter what's on her agenda, if you ask her to do anything, she will make every effort to accommodate whatever the need is."

O'Shea taught every grade from kindergarten through eighth in her 37-year teaching career. She also worked at an orphanage from 1961 to 1992 and later moved on to religious education, and finally elder care.

Now 88, Evangeline "Van" Kerr first met O'Shea when her daughter Charlotte had her as a second-grade teacher more than a half-century ago.

"She was a wonderful teacher and loved the children," Kerr said. They remained friends over the years, and O'Shea brought communion to Kerr's husband, Francis, before he passed away.

Kerr, who describes O'Shea as "a big hello and a beautiful smile," said she still sees O'Shea when she is out helping people.

O'Shea insists she is no hero, but was merely called to a life of service, a call she had at an early age.

Her biggest inspirations, O'Shea said, are her parents and Mary, Mother of Jesus.

"When we meditate, we think about what she did, and mirror our life on hers, as close as we can get to it," she said.

In her mid-70s, O'Shea has stopped working full-time, but she said she will probably never completely retire.

"I say to her all the time I wish my students would remember me the way yours remember you," Sullivan said with a laugh. "Obviously, you did something that was great."