Mary Jane Scanlan, SSND
(Sister Marie Ellen, SSND)
March 6, 1934 –April 15, 2024
It was on March 6, 1934 that Mary Jane was born to Ellen Marie Ducey and Thomas Richard Scanlan. Mary Jane’s two older brothers, Tom and Gerry, would have preferred a brother. Her parents were very happy to have a healthy baby girl as her mother was not in good health. The family lived in East Boston at the time of her birth but were planning to move to Roxbury. Mary Jane was baptized in the parish of future residency, the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and placed under the protection of Our Lady. In her younger years, due to her mother’s illness there were often nurses around as well as her grandmother and aunts to help care for her mother. Mary Jane’s father was a constant presence during this time.
At age four and a half, Mary Jane was enrolled in the Farragut Public School Kindergarten. For grade one she was enrolled in Mission Church Grammar School staffed by SSNDs. It was there that she was prepared and received her First Communion and Confirmation. Mary Jane continued at Mission Church for high school under the guidance of SSNDs and graduated in 1951.
Her mother’s health was very poor and in 1941 she was confined to bed. She was a good patient and the Public Health Nurses that provided care for her inspired Mary Jane and encouraged her hope to become a nurse. In July of 1943 after many years of illness her mother died. Shortly after her mother’s death her two brothers who had graduated from high school joined the navy. Her father’s aunt moved in with Mary Jane and her father at this time.
During the summer months, Mary Jane spent time as a nurse’s aide and enjoyed the experiences. She desired to enter religious life and she wanted to be a nurse. It was recommended that she apply to a congregation that was involved in nursing. Mary Jane was unable to find one that brought her the same joy and satisfaction as the School Sisters of Notre Dame that she had known during her grade school and high school years.
Her desire for religious life continued as well as the desire to enter SSND. She felt that she would also like teaching and that nursing was just a whim. Mary Jane made an application to the community and was accepted. She entered the Candidature on August 28, 1951 in the chapel of Mission Church.
Mary Jane spent the next two years as a Candidate teaching at a school in Fort Lee and another one in Baltimore. Both experiences in community and teaching were good; however, teaching was not all she hoped it to be. She entered the Novitiate on July 8, 1953 and received the name Marie Ellen. A year later, on July 29, 1954 of the Marian Year Sister Marie Ellen professed her first vows. Her first obedience was to St. Ambrose School in Baltimore. After renewing her vows in 1957 she was sent to Villa Maria Notch Cliff, Glen Arm, Maryland where she had spent summers with the retired and ill sisters whom she loved.
In 1957 she received an obedience to Villa Maria at Notch Cliff, Glen Arm. She served there for ten years. In 1968 Sister Marie Ellen began study at the University of Maryland School of Nursing for her RN which she received in 1970. Now using her baptismal name, Sister Mary Jane, a Registered Nurse, was employed at several places: including Baltimore County Health Department, Villa Maria at Notch Cliff, and Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
From 1978 until 1993 Sister Mary Jane worked in Florida. She spent six years with Collier County Health Services in Immokalee Florida and three years with Dade County Hospice in Miami Florida. Sister Mary Jane returned to Collier County Health Services in Immokalee, Florida a second time of six years. After a year of sabbatical and renewal, she resumed her nursing ministry with the Baltimore County Health Department. Her next assignment for nearly ten years was as coordinator of Assisted Living and Health Services at Villa Assumpta.
After nursing Mary Jane was a part-time volunteer Reading Tutor in Baltimore City Schools and in the Archdiocesan Schools in Baltimore. Mary Jane did volunteer work at Villa Assumpta for four years and in 2018 entered Maria Health Care Center as a patient. In 2021 Mary Jane was one of the pioneers to move to Stella Maris in Lutherville-Timonium Maryland and resided there until her death on April 15, 2024.
Sister Mary Jane Scanlan turned 90 years of age on March 6, 2024, and was in her Golden and Ruby Jubilee year of 70 years of religious profession.
Mary Jane is survived by a sister-in-law in New Mexico and nieces and nephews in Massachusetts and Texas. She was also a participant in the RUSH Religious Order Study including the donating of brain tissue for the study of Alzheimer's disease and related diseases.
A viewing, wake, and funeral mass was held at Villa Assumpta Chapel on April 23, 2024. It was attended by many SSNDs and friends from Corpus Christi Parish Community in Baltimore where she worshipped for several years. Burial followed at Villa Maria Cemetery in Glen Arm, Maryland which is located on the grounds that she knew well when she served at Notch Cliff, Glen Arm, Maryland.
May Mary Jane rest in peace.
By Atlantic-Midwest Communications Staff April 25, 2024
