Family, friends remember Sister McEntee

Mar. 29—When Chuck Jansen was a little boy, he'd ride his bicycle to St. Joseph Hospital (now Ascension St. Vincent), walk into the president's office and take a seat.

And then Sister Martin McEntee, CSJ, the hospital's president at the time with a daily schedule busy enough to match her title, would lovingly devote a few minutes to the wants and needs of her growing nephew.

The pair would often find themselves in the hospital's cafeteria, where they'd converse over a little food and drink.

Those talks between the two would often make the little boy's day.

Those moments always made him feel important, Jansen remembers, they made him feel heard and seen.

But that's just the way Sister McEntee was, he added.

She was kind and compassionate, loyal and loving, right up until her final breath.

On Tuesday morning, Sister McEntee, who devoted much of her life to the service of God and others, peacefully died at the Sisters of St. Joseph Convent in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

She was 88.

"She was a beautiful soul who touched so many lives in our community," Jansen told the Tribune. "You look at the age and say 88 is pretty good, but that's a lot of years to love someone, to grow with someone, to learn those lessons. And we knew this day was coming, but now that it's here, it's kind of like a huge person that has played such a huge role in my life is now just not here.

"My brother Mark and younger sister Amy and I went up to see Sister Marty a few weeks ago," Jansen added. "We kind of just gave her permission, if you will, for when Christ would come to take her home. Mark said it best. He said 'You've always been a big part of who we are. We will miss you, but we will always love you, and you will always be a part of who we are.' And he also said to her, 'You have done so much for our community.' Sister Marty's response was, 'The community has done so much for me.'"

Born Ruth Ann McEntee in March 1935, she joined the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1954.

Her first ministry assignment was as a junior high teacher at St. John's School in Tipton, and she continued in the teaching profession for the next several years.

But then in the mid-1960s, Sister McEntee was assigned to attend school at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she went on to earn a degree in business administration.

That would officially begin her long tenure in healthcare.

In 1968, Sister McEntee became the administrator/president and CEO of St. Joseph Hospital, a position she would hold for the next 28 years.

Under her leadership, the hospital expanded in both size and programming, adding areas like radiation oncology, renal dialysis and magnetic resonance imaging.

But it wasn't the title that made people come to love and respect Sister McEntee during all those years of service.

It was her simple ability to make anyone around her feel like the most important person in the room.

Kim Fischer worked in the hospital's lab for around 40 years.

"She (Sister McEntee) would come around just to check on people," Fischer recalls. "But it wasn't just a checkup. It was checking on you personally to see how you were. She knew every single person who worked underneath her. I don't know how she did that, but she knew everyone in the hospital. She knew your family, their names, how old they were. It was just cool.

"Jesus told us to love one another," Fischer added. "And I think Sister Martin took that to heart from the very beginning. She loved like Jesus did, and it oozed out onto us, and now we try to bless other people with it. The love that she poured out to everyone that she knew, it just can't help but impact you in the positive. She was beautiful inside and out."

Marilyn Sherrill, who worked as a registered nurse for Sister McEntee during the 1980s, agreed with Fischer.

"I know being there as a brand-new nurse and trying to learn the ins and outs of everything, she was a calming person in the midst of a little bit of chaos," Sherrill said when asked what impact Sister McEntee made on her life.

Sherrill also noted that Sister McEntee had an infectious smile and a welcoming presence, one that could naturally put you at ease.

"As Christians, we all hope to have others see Christ in us," she said. "You definitely saw Christ in Sister Martin. She loved you with all of her heart and always had your best interest in mind no matter what. I'll always remember her as a loving and happy individual who lived as Christ would want us to, and I can't imagine anybody who ever met her or knew her would not feel the same way."

Along with her work at the hospital, Sister McEntee also held numerous roles throughout the Howard County community, such as chair of the Kokomo Area Chamber of Commerce, advisory board chair for Indiana University Kokomo and campaign chair for the United Way of Howard County and the Howard County Historical Society, which inducted her into the county's Hall of Legends in 2014.

A life well lived, those interviewed said, and a job well done.

"I think I'll remember her as one who loved and one who led and one who lived her life in service of God and of others," Jansen said. "As I think about all the memories, the things that pull them all together are her love, that Irish wit and her faith and value that she placed on each person.

"I was just talking to somebody on the phone a little bit ago, one of the funeral directors, and he said that whenever you talked to her, whether in person or on the phone, you felt like you were someone very special," Jansen continued. "But you also knew you were talking to someone very special. And that's just the way she was. She made each individual person feel like they were unique and special. And in doing so, I think people realized how unique and special she was too."

Services for Sister McEntee will be held at St. Patrick Catholic Church, 1229 N. Washington St., on Sunday and Monday.

The Recitation of the Rosary will be at 3:30 p.m. Sunday with visitation following from 4-7 p.m.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, also at the church.

Services will also be held at the Congregation of St. Joseph-Nazareth Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Those will take place at 2 p.m. Tuesday.