Sister Mary Laurene Yancovitz, O.P.
Born on February 17, 1917
Professed on – April 30, 1934
Born to eternal life on December 27, 2008
Mary Yancovitz was born to Dominic and Monica Vaitcovitch Yancovitz, both of Lithuania descent, on February 17, 1917, in East Boston, Massachusetts. One of six children, she is survived by her sister Alice, a brother Francis, and nieces and nephews.
She attended Sacred Heart School in East Boston where she became acquainted with the Dominican Sisters of Kentucky. She entered the Order on September 2, 1932 and was professed on April 30, 1934, receiving the name Sister Mary Laurene.
She remained at St. Catharine until September 1936, when she was sent to Reed, Kentucky. Although she was there only one year she experienced the 1936 flood there, which she recorded in a 4-page chronicle of her first mission. The personality of a city girl is very evident in the episodes of a rural schoolteacher.
After brief periods in Omaha and Chicago, Sr. Mary Laurene returned to Kentucky where she taught at St. Agnes and at Smith School, both in Springfield. She then went east to Brooklyn and on to Belmont, Lowell, Watertown, and Waverly. She was one of the first Sisters in the community to do apostolic work in the Inner City.
Sr. Mary Laurene used her many talents to the fullest in the classroom. She was creative, artistic, and musical. Not only her pupils, but the younger sisters as well, benefited from these talents as she gave generously of her time and experience.
For two years she cared for her ailing mother before serving the community in W. Newton and Cambridge.
In 1974 Sr. Mary Laurene began a new era in her life when she volunteered her services to the Missionaries of Our Lady of the Prairies at Powers Lake, North Dakota. This group of priests, sisters, brothers, and lay people conducted an academy and retirement residence along with pastoral programs for the people of the area. Here she taught French and English and helped with sewing and artwork. In an article she wrote for Day by Day, in which she enumerated all her activities, she concluded by saying, "Last, but not least, I am part of the great audience which is on its knees for our weekly Radio Rosary Broadcast…. You have a share in all these and even more."
She returned to St. Catharine in September, 1999. Even then she continued her work through "Correspondence for Truth Ministry of Prayer."
Sr. Mary Laurene was a woman of great conviction, and she had the courage to live up to that conviction. Her choice of lifestyle left her to herself much of the time, and her deafness also prevented her from communicating with others. However, her smile conveyed her greeting. She enjoyed entertaining the Sisters at the piano on special occasions.
Sr. Mary Laurene, as you rejoice in heaven, may you continue your prayer for us to Our Lady of the Rosary.
Sister Agnes Mauricia Walsh, OP born to eternal life on December 14, 2008
Sister Michelle Lavin, OP born to eternal life on October 13, 2008.
Sister Rose Imelda Rogan, OP born to eternal life on September 25, 2008
Sister Mary Dominic Stine, OP born to eternal life on September 19, 2008
Sister Anne Catherine Boone, OP born to eternal life on July 18, 2009
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