Correspondent photo / Nancilynn Gatta From left, Janelle Rhodes and Tony Patterson, both pharmacists at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, talk to Humility of Mary Sister Margaret Mary Siegfried at her 100th birthday celebration in the hospital’s dining room Friday. She also was a pharmacist at the hospital and retired in 1994, but has continued volunteering for the past 30 years.

By NANCILYNN GATTA

Correspondent

YOUNGSTOWN — Staff at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital celebrated Sister Margaret Mary Siegfried’s 100th birthday on Friday.

It was appropriate that she had her milestone birthday celebration in the building where she has spent 78 years as an employee and volunteer.

Born on July 29, 1924, in Canton, she moved to the area when she joined the Sisters of Humility of Mary at Villa Maria in nearby western Pennsylvania.

Wearing a crown that said 100 and a pink sweater with the inscription, “Blessed by God for 100 years, Sister Margaret Mary Siegfried,” she sat in the dining room of the hospital on a golden chair and received well wishes from present and former hospital staff. Tony Patterson, a pharmacist at the hospital, said he began working there after Sister Margaret Mary retired in 1994, but worked with her during her volunteer years.

“She stops by the pharmacy to check on us and she gives us a blessing,” Patterson said.

Although she considered entering the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during World War II, she felt another calling.

“I talked to Father William Lawler during confession. He said if I felt like I had a religious vocation, I should go right away,” Sister Margaret Mary said.

She visited Villa Maria with her friend, who also followed a vocation.

Sister Mary Benedict (Marie Shea) asked her brother to take us to the Villa so I could talk to Sister Canice, the novice mistress. When I saw the Villa, I just knew this was the place for me,” she said.

Sister Margaret Mary entered the Villa Maria on Sept. 8, 1942. Ten months later on July 17, 1943, she received the community’s habit. She took her final perpetual vows five years later, on July 17, 1948.

During her time at Villa Maria, leading up to her final vows, she studied pharmacy at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

“My Mother Superior asked me if I liked to study. I said,’ Yes.’ She said, ‘Then, you are going to pharmacy school.’ I thought I was going to be a teacher,” Sister Margaret Mary said.

Becoming a woman pharmacist was unusual in those years.

“There were only 10 women in my class and four were sisters,” she said.

She began working at St. Elizabeth Hospital in 1946 as an apprentice pharmacist.

“I was a staff pharmacist for outpatients when I retired,” she said.

After ending her time in the pharmacy, Sister Margaret Mary continued her presence at the hospital.

“I have been volunteering for the last 30 years in the surgical waiting area. I talk to the families waiting for someone in surgery. Mostly, I just listen,” she said.

Sister Margaret Mary will continue to volunteer at the hospital as long as she can, wearing her love pin gifted to her from Lori DeNiro, Chief Nursing Officer at Villa Maria.

“She calls me Sister Love and it reminds me to spread love when I volunteer,” she said.

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