Two Maryknoll Sisters who served for decades in Hawaii marked their 75th anniversaries of religious life last month at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, near Ossining, N.Y.
Sister Eugenie Therese Courtright and Sister Leona Michiels, both of whom taught in Hawaii schools in the Islands’ pre- and post-statehood days, celebrated their milestones at a Mass in the center’s main chapel on Feb. 10 with 21 other sisters marking 80, 70 and 60 years.
Maryknoll Sister Eugenie Therese Courtright
Sister Eugenie Therese worked for more than 40 years in Hawaii.
Born in Mount Pleasant, Mich., she entered Maryknoll in New York in 1938, three years after graduating from high school.
After earning a degree in education, her first assignment was Maryknoll Grade School in Honolulu where she taught from 1943 to 1959. She then taught for two years at St. Ann School in Kaneohe and 10 years at St. Augustine School in Waikiki.
In 1968, she gained a master’s degree in communications from the University of Hawaii. From 1971 to 1979, she headed the Theology Resource Center and educational communications at Maryknoll High School, where she also taught music. She then joined the staff of the Maryknoll Sisters’ Hawaii regional house.
In 1984, she returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center to work for three years in the development department. She returned to teaching in 1987, this time in Jacksonville, Fla., where she served until 1993.
Sister Eugenie moved to the Maryknoll residence in Monrovia, Calif., in 1993 before settling at the New York motherhouse in 2003.
Sister Leona taught for more than 25 years in Hawaii over two separate assignments.
Maryknoll Sister Leona Michiels
Born in Chicago, Sister Leona entered Maryknoll in 1938. Her first assignment was at St. Anthony High School in Wailuku, a position she held until 1959. She then moved to Oahu to teach science and math at Maryknoll School and science at St. Ann High School in Kaneohe.
From 1963 to 1964, she did promotion work for her congregation, speaking at parishes in New York and Chicago about the work of Maryknoll Sisters. After completion of her master’s degree in science education in 1965, Sister Leona continued working in promotion for another year.
Sister Leona taught science at Monte Maria Academy in Guatemala City, Guatemala, from 1967 to 1971, returning to Hawaii in 1971 to teach science again at St. Ann until 1976.
She returned in 1976 to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, doing congregational work until 2006.
Founded in 1912, the Maryknoll Sisters have nearly 500 members from both the United States and elsewhere working primarily among the poor in 26 countries.
