Sister Margaret Ann O’Donnell, 93, educator in the Philippines for many years

Sister Margaret Ann O’Donnell, RSM, an educator for many years in the Philippines who returned to serve locally in health care, died Jan. 25 in the Mercy Center in South Buffalo. She was 93.

Born in Buffalo, one of 12 children of Alwin and Anna Breidenstein O’Donnell, she grew up in the Seneca-Babcock neighborhood, attended St. Monica School and was a 1947 graduate of Mount Mercy Academy.

Her father died in June 1947, and she entered the Sisters of Mercy on Sept. 8 of that year, taking the name Sister Mary Perpetua.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Niagara University and a master’s degree in English from Canisius College (now University).

In the 1950s, she taught at Holy Family School, St. Thomas Aquinas School, St. Stephen School and All Saints School in Buffalo, and SS. Peter and Paul School in Jamestown.

When Bishop Patrick Cronin of the Missionary Society of St. Columban invited the Buffalo Mercy Community to send sisters to the Philippines to assist in education and health care, she went to the island of Mindanao in 1960.

She served there for 31 years, first as a high school teacher and principal, then as regional superior and director of formation. She also was a chaplain at the Makati Medical Center in metropolitan Manila.

When she returned to Buffalo, she joined Aids Family Services as a pastoral care minister and worked at Mercy Home Care in Cheektowaga. She was active in the Mercy Association programs and was co-director of the Mercy Missions Office, which kept her in contact with friends and associates in the Philippines.

In a tribute on her memorial page, a colleague from the Philippines described her as “an inspiration, a great supporter,” and noted, “I always admired her ability to give you her full attention when she was speaking to you, no matter who else was present. … That was a great gift.”

Survivors include a brother, Gerald O’Donnell. A younger sister, Shirley…