THEN

“I loved Sister Jude (Martha Dolinich). She was my freshman homeroom teacher and also our biology teacher. I loved biology. She was the best teacher, very progressive. We learned a lot about DNA and RNA. We dissected a pig heart and a frog. Her biology class gave me a good basis for nursing school studies.

She occasionally came to the gym and played basketball with the students. Mount Assisi Academy was the first time I knew sisters liked to have fun. My grade school nuns were strict and stern.

I remember that Sister Jude had to go to Philadelphia for open heart surgery to repair a congenital heart issue. It was a really big deal back in the 1960s. I hope she has had a happy life. She was a wonderful teacher.”

Now

After graduating from Pittsburgh Hospital School of Nursing in 1969, Lorraine spent two years as a U.S. Airforce nurse and then had a long career in hospital nursing. Retired in 2013, Lorraine lives in Illinois, the state she’s called home for 48 years.

Sister Jude — known these days by her secular name Martha Dolinich — left the community in 1979 and went on to earn nursing degrees from Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh. She worked for many years at Wheeling Hospital and taught student nurses at Wheeling College, eventually serving as a quality control administrator with the hospital. After retiring more than 20 years ago, she found that she “was bored” and went back to work for several years as a nursing home assistant administrator.

Along with all the work, Martha also mixed in a little play, attending clown college at Robert Morris University with Annette Gerwell (Mount Assisi Academy Class of 1959) and performing professionally in parades and other venues as “Buttons & Bows.” Now 88, she is at last fully retired and lives in McKees Rocks.

read more then
& now features

A Soft-Spoken Voice Still Echoes
Setting a Fine Example
‘Angel’ Among Them
Home Away from Home
A Critical Lifeline

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