52 Ancestors in 2022 - Week 10: Worship

It's week 10 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge and the prompt for the week is 'Worship'. The theme for March is 'Females', so today I'm going to talk about a nun who is part of my family tree, Sister Mary Jacqueline.

Marguerite Rosalie Kolk was the youngest of the five children born to James J Kolk and Mary C Wolf. Marguerite was born August 22, 1903 in Alton, Madison County, Illinois. On August 30, 1903 she was baptized Margaretham Josepham in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alton. She was confirmed in the church as Agnes Margaret Kolk when she was 14 years old

Nursing was Marguerite's life work. She graduated from St. John's Hospital Training School in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. She then worked as a nurse at St. Mary's Hospital in St. Louis. In June of 1931, Marguerite joined the Maryknoll Sisters in Maryknoll, New York. She became Sister Mary Jacqueline and professed her vows at Maryknoll in 1934. The Maryknoll sisters devoted their lives to foreign mission work. 

Sister May Jacquelin made her profession 06 Jan 1934, Sat Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, Illinois) Newspapers.com

After her profession, Sister Mary Jacqueline was assigned to Los Angeles. From there she continued her mission work as a nurse in many locations across the globe. Some of the places she lived included the Philippines and Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka. 

Sister Mary Jacqueline returned to Monrovia, California in about 1960. She continued her nursing at this location until she herself became ill. She returned to the convent in New York when her illness no longer allowed her to continue her work. Sister Mary Jacqueline died in New York on December 29, 1968. She is buried in the Maryknoll Sisters Convent cemetery.