In Memoriam

Sr. Ambrose Carreras, D.C.
Class of '59
Former College Infirmarian

Sr. Ambrose Carreras, D.C., a former infirmarian at St. Joseph College, died Dec. 7, 2007, at Villa St. Michael, the province’s retirement residence in Emmitsburg. She was 100 years of age and 76 years of vocation.

The former Margaret Mary Carreras was born in Philadelphia, one of seven children of Leopold and Margaret Donohue Carreras. Her father was born aboard the ship Leopold on the high seas, off the coast of Spain.

Margaret Mary entered the Daughters of Charity in 1931 and was given the name Sr. Ambrose. She was a certified child nurse/ob gyn, LPN when she came to the community, and later received her RN from St. Vincent’s Hospital, Jacksonville, FL, and her bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph College in 1959.

With the exception of about five years, Sister’s apostolate in the community was nursing. After completing the seminary [novitiate] in 1932, she spent a year at Keating Day Nursing in Cumberland, MD as a group worker, followed by four years as an elementary teacher at St. Dominic School, Baltimore.

Sister’s other missions included St. Mary’s Infant Home and St. Vincent Manor, both in Buffalo, NY, St. Ann’s Infant and Maternity Home, Hyattsville, MD, and St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Jacksonville.

Sr. Ambrose spent many years on the old campus of St. Joseph’s Provincial House as infirmarian, and as the nurse at St. Joseph College. When the college closed in 1973, she was assigned to Villa Louise, a home in Baltimore for unwed mothers, as nurse-in-charge, followed by four years as staff nurse at Jenkins Memorial Home, now St. Elizabeth’s Home for Nursing Care, Baltimore. Sr. Ambrose arrived at Villa St. Michael in 1981 and served first as staff nurse, then as pharmacist until her retirement in 1991.

During her career she also taught adult literacy and several Red Cross nursing courses in mother and baby care and home nursing. The last of her immediate family, Sr. Ambrose is survived by numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Daughters of Charity Support Fund for the Elderly and Infirm Sisters, 333 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg (MD) 21727.

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