Sr Thérèse Cairns IBVM
Entered Eternal Life: 13 December 2010
Community: Loreto Llandudno
On the day of her funeral we gathered to celebrate the life and passing of our beloved Thérèse. At last the time of waiting was over. It was a sad day for us, a glad day for Thérèse! But then so many of Thérèse’s days were glad. Speaking to different people about her, these are the sorts of words I heard. She was ‘very jolly’; she was ‘a brave, gentle and joyful spirit’; ‘she had the capacity to bring peace and re-assurance to sick and frightened small children in boarding school’; ‘when walking into your chapel I was invariably welcomed by her beautiful, innocent and beaming smile with a little giggle at the end of it’; ‘there was a simplicity about her and yet she was far from simple! She was a free spirit’; ‘the stories she used to tell had us all in stitches’. And the stories about her are equally good.
Once, when a certain Jesuit was going around greeting the Sisters with a kiss, one of ‘ours’ put a chair between her and the said gentleman to avoid contact; to no avail, I may add. Meantime Thérèse was heard to say: “Oh, it’s a long time since I had a kiss from a fella!”
In her younger years when she was seriously ill with cancer at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and not expected to live, her mother was so very upset that Thérèse was determined to fight the cancer and get better. She set about doing that by reading the life of Charlie Chaplin! And she recovered.
Mary Cairns was born on 5th March 1916 in Batley, West Yorkshire. There were three girls in the family. Katie became a Nazareth Sister and was known as Sister Thomas More. Sadly, she was killed in a car accident in Southampton on 11th February 1985. Hilda, the youngest, became a teacher. Mary was a delicate child and missed a lot of schooling. She entered Loreto on 22nd February 1936 and was given the name Thérèse. The parish priest, Fr McBride, drove her, along with her mother and her aunt Agnes, to Manchester. The following year she moved to Llandudno where she stayed after Profession in 1939 and became receptionist with many responsibilities in the running of the house. These were the war years. Thérèse lived and worked in Altrincham for six years, in Manchester for six years and in St Albans for ten years.
She was a woman of many parts and always her own woman. She was not your typical Loreto Sister. As receptionist in St Albans, she looked after guests. She was very popular, especially with the priests, including some of the intelligentia of the Jesuits: Ted Yarnold, William Lawson, Bill Yeomans and Philip Caraman. They enjoyed her interest in horses and the race course, football, Bingo, the Lottery and Scratch Cards. Risk-taking was in her blood. She loved the race course and now and then had a flutter on the horses. She was a successful cook and a very kind and cheerful infirmarian. Her training as a nurse in The Christie Cancer Hospital and Withington Hospital in Manchester prepared her for work as Matron at Mary Ward College in the 1970s. Her medals were found among her effects. Her time at Mary Ward was particularly happy for Thérèse who spread fun, laughter and happiness among students and staff. Her last years in active ministry were spent in Eastwood, where as Parish Sister she was a huge success with the local people. There she learnt to drive. And let us not forget her love of music and learning to play the piano at an advanced age!
Her Platinum Jubilee and ninetieth birthday were celebrated in Llandudno, eleven days apart, in 2006. The community have good memories of that time. As Waltzing Matilda is to an Australian so is ‘On Ilkley Moor ba’h t’at’ to a West Yorkshire woman. That was Thérèse’s party-piece. She often sang it for us. They sang it for her at a sing-song in the convent a few weeks before her death and she smiled her benign smile in response.
In her last days of weakness her carers tended her lovingly. They spoke about her variously as ‘a pleasure to look after’; ‘just lovely’; ‘we all loved her, with that gorgeous, broad, Yorkshire accent’; and her ‘wonderful smile’; ‘her lovely sweet smile’. Thérèse certainly made an impression. She entertained just by being who she was. We thank God for her 75 years with us in the Institute and her 94 years of living life to the full and we pray for eternal rest and peace for her gentle soul.
Are we surprised to know that her motto was: ‘Lord, you know that I love you’?
May she rest in peace.
