A funeral Mass for Sister Mary Pauline Oetgen, CSJ, will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, at Nazareth Living Center in south St. Louis County. Sister Mary Pauline died July 4 at Nazareth Living Center. She was 98.
Sister Mary Pauline, baptized Margaret Mary, was born on June 19, 1927, in Savannah, Georgia, to parents Glenn and Helen (McCormick) Oetgen. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1944 and was received into the novitiate in 1945. She received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the College of St. Teresa (now Avila University) in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1960 and a master’s degree in elementary education administration from the University of Notre Dame in 1966.
Sister Mary Pauline served for 70 years in education in Georgia. She worked at many schools throughout her service, returning to some of them multiple times over the years.
She began her ministry in Atlanta in 1947 as a teacher at Sacred Heart School, followed by Mt. St. Joseph School (now St. Mary on the Hill) in Augusta from 1949-55.
In 1955, she taught at St. Joseph School in Marietta. After five years, Sister Mary Pauline went on to serve at St. John the Evangelist School, where she was a teacher and principal until 1966. She returned to Atlanta and taught at Blessed Sacrament School for two years.
Sister Mary Pauline was a teacher and principal at Sacred Heart School in Savannah for a year before moving to Augusta. There, she served at St. Mary on the Hill School as a teacher (1969-71) and principal (1971-75). She was then a teacher at St. Francis Xavier School in Brunswick for the next 14 years.
In 1989, Sister Mary Pauline returned to Valdosta, where she was principal at St. John the Evangelist School for 13 years. After nearly a yearlong sabbatical, she retired in 2004 and served as a volunteer.
In 2019, she moved to Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis and continued her mission of prayer and presence.
Cremains will be buried in Resurrection Cemetery.
