Maryknoll sister brought joy to the elderly she served in Hawaii
Maryknoll Sister Mary Thecla Mutsuye Tsuruda whose gentle spirit brought joy to the lives of the elderly she served at Honolulu’s Catholic Social Services and Catholic Charities Hawaii in the 1980s and 1990s, died April 5 at Maryknoll, New York. She was 98, and a Maryknoll Sister for 75 years.
Sister Thecla’s first Hawaii assignment came in 1975 as a parish assistant at St. Patrick Church. She worked for Catholic Social Services and then for Catholic Charities, 1981-1985 and 1991-1995, both times in service to the elderly.
Her co-worker at Catholic Charities, Iris Hiramoto, described Sister Thecla as a “kind and gentle person who never complained about some of the more difficult clients that we had. … She had such a calming presence and was so sweet.”
Another colleague, Judy Taketa, said, “She was a woman of few words but her actions and continual support to the seniors was ever present. She brought joy to their lives.”
Joyann Yoshikawa added, “Sister T will always remain one of my favorite people — humble, compassionate, and hard-working.”
Born Mutsuye Tsuruda in Sacramento, California, on May 14, 1924, to Ishigoro and Sumo Shimazo Tsuruda, she had one sister and four brothers. She and her family were interned from 1942 to 1946 in Tule Lake and Manzanar Camps in California, and Topaz Camp in Utah where her mother died in 1944.
It was in the camp that Mutsuye met the Maryknoll Sisters. When released in 1946, she relocated to Los Angeles. From there she entered the Maryknoll Sisters at Valley Park, Missouri, on Oct. 14, 1948, and was given the name, Mary Thecla. She was first assigned to the development department at Maryknoll, N.Y., from 1951 until 1953 when she was sent to Japan. She made her final vows in Japan on May 8, 1954.
Though she could speak some Japanese, the adjustment to Japan was not easy. Growing up in the United States, the Japanese culture was as foreign to her as it was to other Americans. From 1953 until 1973, Sister Thecla served mostly in parish work and teaching English to children and adults.
In between her Hawaii assignments, Sister Thecla served the retired Maryknoll Sisters at their home in Monrovia, California. She returned there for her own retirement in 1996.
She moved to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, N.Y., in 2013 where she died.
