Sister Lucy Keaney
If you were ever lucky enough to have Sister Lucy Keaney as your nurse, you knew you were in good hands: Your bed was clean and wrinkle-free, your back was rubbed, your teeth were brushed – and Sister Lucy seemed to always come into your room exactly when you needed her. What's more, she had the ability to keep you laughing and could quickly correct any unruly patient down the hall.
Her reputation as an excellent caregiver grew over her 32 years at St. Mary's Hospital in Cottonwood and her subsequent seven years of providing in-home care. "She was always very conscientious about the way things needed to be done," said Sister Agnes Reichlin, who, as Director of Nursing at St. Mary's, trained Sister Lucy in the LPN program. "We could always depend on her… so bright and hard-working."
Sister Cynthia Schultz, a registered nurse and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist, credits her solid start in healthcare to both Sister Lucy and Sister Agnes. "Lucy witnessed what it means to give good patient care. She was very meticulous, conscientious, hard-working and a complete joy to learn from as a new CNA. Later as an RN alone on nights, I always felt confident with Lucy; she knew what to watch for."
Sister Lucy was born in 1924 in Alameda, California, the last of her parents' four girls and one son. She was named Gertrude after her mother, and in a seeming stroke of destiny, after the patron saint of the religious community she would eventually enter at the age of 25. At her First Profession she became the namesake of St. Lucy.
Gertrude grew up in San Francisco, attending Catholic school and reading nearly everything she came across. "Even through my phases of wanting to be an actor or dancer, I always wanted to be a Sister," she says. In her reading she discovered the story of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who lived and taught a spirituality of attending to everyone and everything well and with love – an influence that would define Sister Lucy's life of faithfully tending to the sick and infirm.
Although life in the city was vibrant, the Keaney family endured hardship. When she was ten, her father died from tropical malaria contracted during business abroad and her only brother disappeared for several years into the chaos of World War II, losing a leg in combat.
Going from San Francisco to Idaho didn't take long. Her older sister, Madeleine, entered St. Joseph's Convent and was soon working at an orphanage in Lewiston, Idaho. It was on a trip to visit her that the young Gertrude discovered St. Gertrude's. "I entered to do great things for the Lord," she says, "and I learned that just living a religious life is a great thing."
Now Sister Lucy is a resident in the Monastery infirmary. Although she is officially retired, she still
tracks patient care for her Sisters and shares her classic San Francisco-style sense of humor, lifting spirits and strengthening the feeling that everyone is indeed in good hands.