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August 16, 2024Religious Sisters Kay Powers and Betty Kehoe, who may as well be real-life sisters, each recall the nearly identical alarm upon being called – sent? – out West to serve the faith.
“Oklahoma?”
“Oklahoma City?”
And yet, they made the move, reminded of the mantra of their founders of The Congregation of Notre Dame:
“Go wherever we are needed, stay as long as we are needed.”
And they stayed, a combined 60 years, doing important work and accumulating friends and fond memories, their fears of finding a way to and through unfamiliar territory alleviated once they arrived and jumped into service.
They have loved. And been loved.
And soon, they will be missed, as retirement leads them East to rejoin and reconnect and reside in Bridgeport, Connecticut, joining a group of sisters they once grew in faith with at the monastery in Kankakee, Illinois.
“Sister Kay and Sister Betty have made a tremendous and lasting impact through their many years of dedicated ministry in Oklahoma,” Archbishop Paul Coakley said.
“I am grateful for their selfless service in various ministries and apostolates in the archdiocese, whether it be in Catholic education in our schools or in counseling at Catholic Charities or in safeguarding children through maintaining safe environments in our Catholic communities.
“But I am especially grateful for their gospel witness among us by simply living their vocation to consecrated life in such a joyful manner. I will miss them both!”
The proper path
A route to Oklahoma City was not among any preferred plan for Sister Kay or Sister Betty. Yet there are personal plans, and God’s plans.
As always, God’s plan proved best.
Sister Betty’s path to becoming a nun began while attending Catholic school in Kankakee, where she found herself drawn to the sisters there.
“They were so involved with us,” she said, “they really shepherded us through high school and it was a wonderful feeling to be there. And toward the end, the nuns were recruiting.”
Already drawn to the nuns, she decided to join them, soon becoming a sister, teaching in Kankakee and later near Chicago, in South Holland.
Sister Kay’s parents were Irish immigrants who landed in the Bronx, New York, in the 1920s. The youngest of four, she attended Catholic schools, and like Sister Betty, was attracted to the loving commitment of the nuns who served the students. So she decided to enter the novitiate and in 1959 was assigned ... to Illinois.
That’s where the two sisters first connected and became friends and roommates.
While Sister Betty remained and taught in the Chicago area, Sister Kay was on the move, sent to teach in Vermont and Connecticut and New York City, before being called back to the Archdiocese of Chicago, where she served as principal of three schools over the span of 27 years.
“I made a lot of friends there. A lot of friends,” Sister Kay said.
And then Oklahoma came calling. For both.
Reporting, reluctantly
Sister Betty, who had finally left Illinois for Connecticut, was finishing a degree in marriage and family therapy when a fellow nun, Sister Ann Leonard, suggested she apply for a job at Catholic Charities in Oklahoma City.
“Oklahoma?” she responded, all but dismissing the thought.
“Yes,” Sister Betty recalled, “that’s exactly how I said it.”
Soon she was headed to Oklahoma, serving as a marriage and family counselor for Catholic Charities.
Six years later, it was Sister Kay’s turn.
She was working in the Archdiocese of Chicago and was told of a job in Oklahoma City, again with Sister Ann providing a nudge, saying maybe she should apply.
Right on cue: “Oklahoma City?”
Soon, she, too, despite some serious reluctance, was headed to Oklahoma, with friends betting she wouldn’t last more than a year. Archbishop Eusebius Beltran hired Sister Kay to become superintendent of schools, a post she held 16 years before spending another six years, from 1996 to 2012, as safe environment coordinator for the archdiocese.
“I always feel it was one of the greatest ‘yeses’ I ever said to the call of the Lord,” she said.
Well, at least after enduring a bumpy start upon moving in with Sister Betty in Oklahoma City.
“My first six months, I just cried,” Sister Kay said. “Sister Betty was worried.
“I had lived in Chicago for 27 years. I had lots of friends. I was vice president of the Principals Association. I knew nobody in Oklahoma, except Sister Betty. I mean nobody.”
Ultimately, Sister Kay poured herself into the work and formed enriching relationships. And the two sisters, once so unsure about Oklahoma, found great friendship, a sister-ship even, and became quite popular with so many around the city who were impacted through their service.
Even in retirement, they’ve continued to serve, highlighted by visiting the sick and the elderly and administering the Eucharist.
“I love Oklahoma,” Sister Betty said. “It’s such an easy place to live.”
Said Sister Kay, “I would say what I did here, in terms of ministry, I’ve loved it. And it has been very fulfilling for me. My favorite part of that superintendent role was nurturing principals and pastors.
“I was asked to come. Don’t think they had in mind 28 years, but I’ve always said it’s the best.”
What’s next?
Seated in the living room of their house in a neighborhood tucked off Northwest
Expressway, boxes for the move already piling up, Sisters Betty and Kay prep for the next move – together.
Best of friends, they finish each other’s sentences, laugh at shared memories and anticipate the new adventures to come.
“I think the blessing for us is that two more different people you’ve probably never met,” Sister Kay said. “And that’s why we get along so well.”
“I put my white flag up,” Sister Betty said with a laugh.
Roommates for 28 years, surely there have been disagreements, even among sisters?
“Yeah, yeah, it happens,” Sister Betty said. “And sometimes it may be a little bit beyond that. But we never hang onto anything. We sit down and talk about it right then, within an hour, before we go to bed or anything.”
And they make a gesture releasing any negativity, followed by the words: “Let it go.”
They play games together, Rummikub and Yamslam among the favorites. They even carry a game bag with them, soon to be shared with the sisters in Connecticut.
“I can’t wait til we get there, get the games going,” Sister Betty said.
The sisters will be rejoining 19 old friends from the convent when they fully retire in Connecticut, not as roommates this time, but as next-door neighbors in a big apartment building housing all the retired sisters.
They don’t have a bucket list. Their lives have been filled with experiences. They don’t do cruises, although they will jet to destinations. They went to Italy last year. Sister Kay has some 20 cousins in Ireland and enjoys getting there to see family.
Mostly, they’ll figure things out as they go, heading out from their Oklahoma home Sept. 1, when they load what’s not on trucks into their 2016 gray Toyota Camry and head East.
Sister Kay will handle the driving, broken into three days, with an anticipated Sept. 4 arrival in Bridgeport.
Once they hit the border, leaving the state in the rearview mirror, they may just sound a different alarm of “Oklahoma,” this time one of fondness.
John Helsley is the editor of the Sooner Catholic.
Photo Avery Holt/Sooner Catholic.