Farewell, Sr. Clem

Sr. Maria Clemencia, better known as "Sister Clem" to her sisters and her many friends in Lansdale, passed away at home June 3, 2013. She was 104 years old and in the 79th year of her religious profession.

Born in the Philippines in 1908, Sr. Clem entered the Religious of the Assumption in 1929 and began a religious life that would take a little girl from Alimodian, a village in the Visayas region, to Belgium, Lourdes, the Canary Islands and Madrid, and finally to the United States, where she arrived in Miami in 1946. She had confessed to the Mother General that she was very frightened of going to the U.S., but she came anyway, beginning a beautiful relationship with this country and its people that lasted for 67 years.

Eventually, after stints in Miami and Philadelphia (at Ravenhill Academy), she was posted to Lansdale, or more properly, to Saint Stanislaus parish, where she made many friends for herself and the Assumption Sisters by her kindness, her cookies, her sewing, her love of flowers, and her sense of humor. Speaking in the accents of her native country, Sister Clem could always make herself understood. She accomplished that by remembering the names and stories of the hundreds of people who sat at her kitchen table for more than thirty years. She did it by praying for them and their families and all their situations. She did it by taking great joy in life and radiating that joy to all those around her.

She is survived by nephews and nieces in the Philippines and by her religious community. Her Assumption Sisters want to thank all of her friends and her many care-givers for their kindness to and care of Sister Clem during these last several years. We thank the North Penn VNA Hospice most especially for everything they did to make her days comfortable.

In lieu of flowers, a donation to AMA (Associate Missionaries of the Assumption), the lay volunteer program of the Assumption Sisters at 11 Old English Road, Worcester, MA 01609, or to the North Penn VNA Hospice, 51 Medical Campus Drive, Lansdale, PA 19446, would be appreciated.

Sister's viewing will be held Wednesday Evening, June 5 from 7 to 9PM at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, 51 Lansdale Ave, Lansdale. An additional viewing will be held Thursday Morning, June 6 from 10 to 10:45 also at St. Stanislaus Church, followed by the Funeral Mass at 11AM.

Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery in West Conshohocken. Arrangements are by Simcox-McIlvaine Funeral Home in Lansdale.

Sr. Clem's online obituary may be viewed at legacy.com