Oral History: Sister M. Ethelreda Merz

Oral History: Sister M. Ethelreda Merz

Sister M. Ethelreda Merz

An oral history conducted in honor of Sister M. Ethelreda Merz, a Sister of Charity of Seton Hill from 1926 until 1985. The interview was conducted by Sister Marie Corona Miller on October 13, 1987 and February 3, 1988.Sister Ethelreda Merz was born on January 14, 1908 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Daughter of John F. Merz and Mary Ellen O’Connor, Mildred Merz entered the community on December 8, 1926 as Sister M. Ethelreda Merz.
Sister Ethelreda did office work for two years before entering the community. She taught in elementary schools and performed catechetical work in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Ca., and the dioceses of Pittsburgh, Pa. and Tucson, Az. Among the schools she taught at were SS. Peter and Paul, Tucson from 1943 to 1955, St. Pancratius, Ca. from 1955 to 1963 and again from 1967 to 1982, and at Sacred Heart, Pittsburgh from 1964 to 1967.
Sister Ethelreda had a certification for teaching elementary education at a diocesan level from the city of Pittsburgh.
Sister Ethelreda Merz passed away on January 29, 1985 at the age of 77.

Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill

Archives of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill

1987/10/13

1988/02/03

All rights belong to the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

Audio cassette tape

Oral history

OH-50

Sister Marie Corona Miller

Sister Ethelreda Merz

OH 50-1 Sr. M. Ethelreda Merz
This is a part of the oral history program of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill. Sister Ethelreda Merz died on January twenty-ninth, nineteen eighty-five. In her memory, Sister Mary Guido McMillan will share her thoughts on Sister Ethelreda. This interview is being conducted by Sister Marie Corona Miller at St. Anselm's Convent. The date is October thirteenth, nineteen eighty-seven.

Sr.Mary Guido McMillan... Sister Ethelreda was born in nineteen hundred nine, I think, in Pittsburgh. Her earlier years were lived in Homewood on Brace Street. Her father and mother had an older girl named Helen. Two years later they had Sister Ethelreda, who was known as Mildred. The family called her Midge. She was a dear little girl, but I did not know her in those days, because her mother died, and her aunt raised them for a while. Then her father remarried a woman, whose name was Eichenlaub. She had one daughter...Madge. They moved from Brace Street in Homewood to Hutchison Avenue in Edgewood. Sister Ethelreda went to Divine Providence Academy and so did I, where we met in high school. Sister Margaret Frances Coogan, Sister Mary Bernard O' Brien, and Sister Ethelreda Merz were all freshmen, while I was a sophomore. Sister Ethelreda and I became very close friends. The fact that we lived in the same neighborhood, she on Hutchison Avenue, and we lived on Saunders and Lancaster Avenue in Regent Square, we often traveled home together. Then, when Sister decided that she wanted to enter, she came to me and told me of her intention. I remember well the night when she was up at our house. It was in the summer time and we were having watermelon. My father came in and he teased her. He said: "Well Mildred, by the time you enter, there won' t be any names left, so what do you want me to call you, Sister Soapsuds or Sister Applesauce?" Well, we all giggled at that. From then until my dad died, he always called her Sister Soapsuds. We came to Seton Hill in November. She petitioned and Mother told her that she could enter on December eighth. At that time, I was stationed at Holy Innocents in Sheraden. I brought Mildred up to Seton Hill where she signed the papers to enter. I entered on May third, nineteen twenty-five, and Sister Ethelreda entered on December eighth, nineteen twenty-six. If my memory serves me correctly, Sr. Ethelreda was assigned to Holy Cross as her first mission. Then I think she went to Sacred Heart for a year. When Saint Peter and Paul opened in Tucson, Arizona, Sister Ethelreda was one of the pioneers. She loved the West. She hoped to go further West, even to California. Even as a child, she and her sister, Helen used to talk about California from reading their geography. Helen married a man from out in California. He owned a wonderful grape arbor there. Sister went quite often from Tucson in the summer to visit them. They had one son, whom I think is dead now. Then Sister Ethelreda' s sister Helen died several years after Sister had been in Tucson. In the meantime, her father and mother had moved to California to be close to Helen. Her Sister, Madge, remained in Pittsburgh where she married a man by the name of
MacAleer. He was Doctor MacAleer' s brother. He too is deceased now. Sister Ethelreda, at this
time, was sent back to Pittsburgh for a couple of years. Her neck was giving her a great deal of trouble. She had an operation at St. Francis hospital, but it was not too successful, because her neck continually turned, and she had to hold her head even to eat. Sister was a very private person. She never complained. After this, Sister Ethelreda went back to California when her father became very ill. The father died there in California, as did the mother about a year later.


Then Sister Ethelreda stayed on in California at St. Pancratius. She took care of the patio, answered doorbells and telephones, etc., as she had been out of school for ten years. When she became ill, Mother requested that she come home to the East. Sister Ethelreda then came to Assumption Hall where she was for twenty three or twenty-four months. She was a beautiful character. She loved pink and also loved butterflies. Sister Ethelreda was a very prayerful woman, and everyone loved here. Sister died very suddenly one evening. She was listening to her television, which she always turned off about nine-thirty PM. The night nurse heard the noise of the television about eleven-thirty and went in to check on Sister. She turned the TV off. Then, going out, she patted Sister ' s forehead to find that it was cold. She turned the light on and there was Sister Ethelreda with a beautiful smile on her face sleeping the sleep of death. I'm sure Sister is happy in heaven with God, her'fe latives; and the Blessed Mother whom she dearly loved.

Sr. Marie Arthur Hamilton: I completed the transcription of Sr. Mary Guido McMillan's memoirs of Sr. Ethelreda Merz on Saturday, January fifth, two thousand thirteen...2013.

Sr. Marie Corona Miller: This is a part of the oral history of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill. Sister Ethelreda Merza on January twenty-ninth, nineteen eighty five. In her memory, Sister Adxam Bronchain will share her thoughts on Sister Ethelreda. This interview is being conducted by Sr. Marie Corona Miller at St. Columkille in Imperial. The date is: February third, nineteen eighty-eight.

SAB: I didn't know Sister Ethelreda until I went to St. Pancratius in Lakewood, California. I went there to teach the eighth grade. I was there from nineteen seventy-one until nineteen seventy-six. In those five years is when I really got to know Sister Ethelreda. At that time, Sister Ethelreda·was just doing part time work in the school office...mostly taking care of the milk program for the lunch children. There, they don't have a cafeteria. The children bring a bag lunch. They eat out on the patio, so her job was to order the milk, take care of the tickets for the milk, and all that was entailed. She also did odd jobs in the office for Sister Mary Giles Brandt, who was Principal while I was there, and she also became a very good friend of Mrs. McGaffm, who was the school secretary at that time. Mrs. McGaffin's daughter had several children. I know that Sister Ethelreda was very much interested in them and in fact I still think they kept in contact after Sister Ethelreda left. I was the Sister Servant at St. Pancratius. Sister Ethelreda had a nephew who died in La Hoya, California. It was after that, and because of the situation that I got to know Sister Ethelreda very closely. I guess in the beginning I was too caught up with being the Sister Servant and school work.....being the eighth grade teacher. When you get all caught up in those things, you don't always think about the people living with you, which is not a good way to be. She struck me very forcefully by her quiet way. You had to really know her to realize that she was suffering. She never complained. Her attitude, her manner was always one of a quiet joy. After I got to know her, I learned of her great love of nature. She took care of the beautiful patio we had at St. Pancratius. It was walled in. There was a lemon tree. She had the Bird of Paradise flowers there. They were native to the area. She had other flowers there too.
Amoµg them were the Jphnny Jump Ups, which are something like a Violet or a Pansy. When


they first came up in the Springtime, she would surprise me by having one of those in my bedroom because she knew that I shared her love for flowers. She also had a few plants on the Patio table. Again, they were of the exotic kind. That was the way she kept herself busy besides working in the school. She also liked to read. Every night I would go into her bedroom and massage her neck. Her neck caused her a lot of pain. She could not look ahead. She had to hold her head in order to be able to do this. She loved "Snoopy" from "Peanuts", so we had a little
"Snoopy" dog. That brought her a lot of joy. Any time I sent her a card, I always tried to find one with something related to "Snoopy" on it, especially after I returned to the East and didn't live with her anymore. Another thing, to show our deep relationship, when I was leaving California in nineteen seventy-six, she went to the airport to see me off. I know that must have been a great price that she paid, because it was hard for her to travel. I was very touched at her doing this. She also gave me a card, which wasn' t to be opened until I boarded the plane. I still have that card. She was a great inspiration to me just because of her quiet, gentle, manner, her joy and her patience in suffering. I will always remember her. When she died, I was not able to go to the funeral. The weather did not permit it. At that time, there were hazardous driving warnings being given, but Sister Sebastian Jellison, in her kindness, knew I was a good friend of Sister Ethelreda, and she gave me her statue of Mary, some flowers, and her little crib set, which I still have. When I came back East, I went to Blairsville, and often went to Assumption Hall to visit Sister Ethelreda.

SMCM: Sister, how do you feel that Sister Ethelreda adjusted to coming to Assumption Hall after spending many years in the West?
SAB: I would say she did very well. She had been in the West for many years. Knowing Sister Ethelreda, she would make the best of it no matter how difficult it might be. That was true to her nature. That's the kind of person that she was.

SMCM: You could pick this up when you visited her at Assumption Hall?
SAB: Yes, because she was still her cheerful self. She wasn't bemoaning the fact, and she just seemed to be the way that I knew her in California, as far as her attitude, her personality...try to make the best of it.

SMCM; Thank you Sister Mary Adrian.

Sr. Marie Arthur Hamilton: I completed the transcription of Sr. Mary Adrian' s memoirs of Sr. Ethelreda Merz on Wednesday, January ninth, two thousand thirteen...2013.

Audio cassette tape

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