Sacred Hearts Sister was a teacher by profession, with a love for woodworking
Sister Jeanne Cordeiro, a Maui-born Sister of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary whose long teaching career was augmented by her love of woodworking and driving, died on March 20 in Honolulu, 11 days after suffering from a brain hemorrhage. She was 94 and a religious sister for 72 years.
Sister Jeanne was born Genevieve Mariam on Oct. 5, 1919, the third of seven children of John and Angeline Jose Cordeiro. Growing up in Maui, she graduated from Maui Elementary School in 1934 and then came to Honolulu to attend Maryknoll High School, graduating in 1938.
In 2012, reflecting on her 70th anniversary of religious life, Sister Jeanne wrote about her decision to enter the convent.
“At Maryknoll High School the Maryknoll Sisters became a most positive influence in my life and the call to religious life,” she said. “Good Father Bruno Bens, a Sacred Hearts priest, spoke to me about the adoration kept by the Sacred Hearts Sisters and I instinctively knew where God wanted me.”
Sister Jeanne entered the Sisters of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on Dec. 8, 1939, and made her first profession on June 21, 1942, in Kaimuki. Her perpetual profession took place on Aug. 30, 1945.
She began her teaching career early as the fourth grade teacher at Sacred Hearts Convent from 1942 to 1980. She continued to teach fourth grade at Maria Regina School in Gardena, Calif., from 1980 to 1996, specializing in the Writing-to-Read program.
She said she volunteered for the California school “because it was becoming a learning center for rather poor black children and I believed I would be a missionary.”
Sister Jeanne loved driving and was often the very happy chauffeur for the Sacred Hearts Sisters who worked in or visited California. One of her joys was driving across the United States during the summer to visit the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts in Fairhaven, Mass.
“Besides teaching, I enjoyed what I called a ‘ministry on wheels,’ since I used to drive the sisters to the doctors and run other errands,” Sister Jeanne said.
Another one of her joys was carpentry. She built stools, tables and headboards for beds. She re-upholstered furniture and restored tables and chairs, sanding and varnishing them. She put her woodworking skills to good use whenever she visited the Sacred Hearts Sisters at their mission in Artesia, N.M.
Even after Sister Jeanne retired to the congregation’s infirmary at Malia O Ka Malu in Kaimuki, she continued refinishing chairs until shortly before her death.
Sister Jeanne described as a highlight of her years in religious life her visits to the Sacred Hearts congregational sites in Europe. “It helped me to understand and appreciate better our founders’ spirit of reparation and our charism of contemplating, living and proclaiming the redemptive love of Jesus,” she said.
She is survived by her brother Roland.
Sister Jeanne Cordeiro’s funeral was April 3 at Malia O Ka Malu. Her inurnment was at Hawaiian Memorial Park.
