Sister Rosemary Bass, MM, Educator in Japan Nearly 50 Years, Dies at 88

Ossining, NY   Sister Rosemary Ellen Bass, a missioner/ educator and parish worker in Japan for nearly 50 years, died  March 16, 2014, at Maryknoll Sisters Home Care III, Maryknoll, NY. She was 88 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 68 years.

Born on August 19, 1925 in Detroit, MI, to Richard H. and Mary L. O’Donnell Bass, Sister Rosemary entered Maryknoll at their motherhouse in Ossining, NY, from St. Mary of Redford Parish, Redford, MI, on September 6, 1945, and made her final vows at the motherhouse on March 7, 1951.

A 1958 graduate of Maryknoll Teachers College, Maryknoll, NY, with a Bachelor’s of Education degree,  Sister Rosemary also attended St. Mary’s High School, Redford, MI, from which she graduated in 1943. Before entering religious life, she also worked at the Detroit Diesel Engine Division of General Motors in Detroit.

Sister Rosemary, whose religious name was Sister M. Joan Richard, worked as a secretary of the Promotion Director for The Field Afar, the magazine now known as Maryknoll, from 1948-1955, and as a fourth grade teacher at Maryknoll Sisters School for Japanese, Los Angeles, CA, from 1958-1960, before being sent to Japan, where she would spend most of the next 49 years.

Sister Rosemary first worked in Japan at Saiin Parish, Kyoto, from 1960-1962, becoming an English teacher in Yokkaichi in 1963, where she would serve until 1971. During this time, she also served as a Councilor for the Maryknoll Sisters in the Japan Region. She then returned to the motherhouse, where she managed the direct mail office of the congregation’s Development Department from 1971-1974, returning to Japan in the latter portion of 1974.

She then served as secretary for Maryknoll Fathers Communications Office in Tokyo from 1974-1975, followed by teaching English at Sophia University, Tokyo, from 1975-1991, at Sophia Community College, also in Tokyo, from 1991-1994, and at the Maryknoll Sisters Convent, Kyoto, from 1994-1996. 

Later she served on the congregation’s Main House Council at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, from 1997-2000. Returning to Japan to teach English. She also worked in Social Concerns for the Maryknoll Sisters in Japan. and ministered to Kyoto’s Filipino workers from 2000 until her retirement to the Maryknoll  Sisters Residence in Monrovia, CA, in 2009. She then relocated to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in 2013.

Sister Rosemary is survived by two nieces, Rosemary Willman of Plymouth, MI, and Kathryn Bass of Mill Valley, CA; two nephews, Dr. Lawrence Bass of Carmichael, CA, and David Ormsby of Canton, MI, and a brother-in-law, Dean Ormsby of Livonia, MI.

A Vesper service will be held for Sister Rosemary on Friday, March 21, 2014, at 4:15 p.m. in the Annunciation Chapel, Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY.  Her Mass of Christian Burial will follow on Saturday, March 22, 2014 at 11 a.m. , also in Annunciation Chapel. Burial will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery at Maryknoll, NY.

Dorsey Funeral Home, Inc.

14 Emwilton Pl., Ossining

914-941-0167

dorseyfuneral.com