SISTER ROSE DAMIEN MALABON, CSJ | 1932-2016
By Sister Sara Sanders, CSJ
Special to the Herald
Maui-born Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Rose Damien Malabon, a life-long elementary school teacher who also worked as a live-in volunteer service provider at Kalihi Valley Homes and Punchbowl Homes in Honolulu, died June 29 at age 84 at Leahi Hospital in Honolulu. She was a religious sister for 63 years.
Sister Rose Damien joined the Carondelet order in 1953, the first woman from Maui to do so, and first taught in schools in California before being assigned back home to Hawaii in 1960. Eight years later, she was back on the Mainland to teach again at several schools for 10 years.
In 1978, she was permanently missioned to Hawaii, and taught at St. Joseph School in Waipahu, St. Theresa School in Honolulu and Christ the King School in Kahului, where she was also the parish director of religious education and liturgy resource person.
Sister Rose Damien also volunteered as a service provider at Kalihi Valley Homes and later at Punchbowl Homes in Honolulu.
At Kalihi Valley Homes, she and Sister Rose Anthony Tanio, known as the “Roses of Kalihi,” provided programs and activities for both children and adults, including a small business training program funded by a Hawaii Community Foundation grant. Sister Rose Damien gathered a group of young Samoan men to form the Neighborhood Citizen Patrol to walk around the housing project at night, responding to disturbances and sending teenagers home after curfew.
She also coordinated a group which pressed the State Legislature to provide contracted security guards at the housing project. In 1990, the Honolulu Police Department honored Sister Rose Damien with that year’s “Citizenship Award” for her outstanding leadership and unselfish dedication to upgrade the living conditions in Kalihi Valley Homes.
Sister Rose Damien was born in Hamakuapoko, Maui, on Jan. 28, 1932, to Santiago Malabon and Damiana Cogal who named her Inez. When she was a little more than a month old, she was baptized Agnes at Holy Rosary Church in Paia. She attended Holy Rosary School, St. Anthony Girls’ School in Wailuku, and graduated from Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles.
Sister Rose Damien suffered from fibromyalgia for many years and then was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, an incurable neuromuscular disorder which makes simple actions hard to do. Her response to this was: “Each morning when I wake up, I don’t know what gift I’m going to receive from God. But, my attitude is that it’s a gift. And when you are given a gift, you accept it and things will go OK.”
“I’ve learned that you can’t always look at challenges negatively, because they will always be there. Some days are diamonds; others are stones. If you look at the things that happen to you in life positively, you will see resistance toward that which you don’t like slowly diminish during the day. This will keep you going until the next gift from God comes. Then, you can look at it and say, ‘Thank you, God.’”
Her illness forced her to move to the Carondelet Center on Honolulu where she was seen as a “wisdom figure,” keeping everyone there current on world events and justice issues. She also continued a ministry of prayer and witness.
Sister Rose Damien loved to be with people and lift their spirits. She was always ready to sit, have a cup of coffee and talk story with whomever came into the kitchen. She enjoyed earrings and hats and loved to shop. She cherished the image of the butterfly, a symbol of resurrection, and the sunflower, which follows the movement of the sun like someone who faithfully follows God. Many pictures of butterflies decorated her room and danced above her hospital bed. A vase of sunflowers brightened her room during her last days.
“Rosie D,” as she was lovingly nicknamed, chose to move to Leahi Hospital when she needed long term care. There she welcomed the many Carondelet sisters and ohana visitors who brightened her days.
In the wee hours of the morning on June 29, Rosie D. peacefully went home to her loving God, surrounded by several of her sisters and after having listened to the voices of her loved ones on Maui who called to express their love and gratitude. May she eternally enjoy the love and presence of her Lord.
Funeral services are set for July 18 at Holy Trinity Church, starting with 9 a.m. visitation, a 10 a.m. eulogy and Mass at 10:30 a.m. Inurnment and lunch will follow at Diamond Head Memorial Park.
