Each issue of FellowScript features interviews with long-term members of InScribe. This time Shirley S. Tye interviews Sister Mary Ryan.
Mary Ryan grew up during the Depression years in Alberta, when books and paper were scarce. She fondly remembers a book her mother made for her eighth birthday. Sheets of brown paper that her mother had saved were carefully ironed and cut to fit inside a green oilcloth cover and then sewn together. Mary wrote regularly in that book which became known as Mary’s Stories. She read those stories to her two brothers, three sisters, and her cat Rusty.
Mary wanted to become a teacher. After graduating from high school, she joined the Daughters of Providence because it was an order dedicated to education. She went on to earn three degrees; B.A. from the University of Ottawa; B.Ed. from the University of Alberta (Edmonton); and a M.Ed. from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her specialty was English and Social Studies. She taught in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and the Yukon.
She enjoyed teaching creative writing and participated in the writing assignments along with her class. As Mary critiqued her students’ work, they in turn critiqued her work. Her mantra at the time was “If one wants to learn how to write, one must write and write and write.”
During the 1970s while teaching in Whitehorse, Mary enrolled in a correspondence writing course with Palmer Writers School in an effort to ward off cabin fever during the long winters. The course proved beneficial as she was able to apply the lessons to the reports she wrote as a high school counselor. She received many compliments for those well written reports.
Mary is a member of ICWF, Kelowna Museum Writers and the Genealogy Society. She enjoys the word games Scrabble and Quiddler.
After retirement, her interest in writing continued. Particular topics of interest are her family and the history of the Daughters of Providence, a religious order of the convent in Vegreville, Alberta, where she boarded while attending St. Martin Separate School for her high school education. There are many reasons that keep her writing: to share an experience and her faith; to encourage and help others; to build bonds; and to celebrate an event. She keeps a list of “story buds,” ideas that have risen during a conversation or while in prayer. There is always something that feeds her imagination.
Her stories have been published in the Canadian Messenger of the Sacred Heart; various local newspapers of towns where she has lived; Kelowna Museums Writers’ booklet of short stories; and FellowScript.
One of her stories won an InScribe writers’ contest award and another received a valuable critique which she refers to often when revising a story. Mary describes that critique “like attending a workshop.”
When Mary does revisions, she doesn’t hold back but ruthlessly tackles the story, reshaping her work without emotional attachment. One of her mentors commented that Mary was one of the few writers whose revisions actually resulted in improvement. Like any writer, Mary too has received rejection letters. But those rejections haven’t caused Mary to lose heart. She sets the story aside and later examines it and considers the editor’s suggestions. Throughout her teaching career, she taught her students to do the same. She encouraged them to view revisions as directives to improve their work rather than a personal criticism.
Family and friends enjoy reading her letter-stories. If for some reason she misses mailing a letter, she soon receives an inquiry as to its whereabouts. Her inspiration is drawn from personal life events. Some of those events she has written down into a booklet titled Stories from My Life and has presented copies to her nephews and nieces. Mary’s heart is touched by the letters she has received from them about her stories. Today her mantra is “Share your stories. You’ll never regret it.”
This past spring, Mary was asked to compose and deliver an address for a fiftieth anniversary of the religious vows for a fellow sister of the order. The address was presented at the community celebrations in May. Mary found the research personally enriching. She was honoured and privileged to study about the sister’s fascinating genealogy and about one of her ancestors who was a “Fille du Roi” (The King’s Daughters). The King’s Daughters were young women of child-bearing age recruited by King Louis XIV in 1671 to journey to New France to marry and start families to populate the colony.
Mary has organized a seniors’ group and helps them with writing their stories. They recently printed a booklet of a collection of everyone’s stories. She also assists seniors with letter writing. Often those visits turn into tea parties with her hostess relating a story connected to the tea cup and saucer.
From those visits arose new ideas for another project. Mary has several pieces of chinaware from her mother she is handing down to family members. When presenting the items, Mary includes a bit of family history with each piece. The gifts hold greater meaning to each recipient because of the stories. The thank-you notes Mary has received cheer her heart.
In 2001, Mary published a book about the early stages of her order in Saskatchewan during 1897 titled How Far Do We Have to Go? She is in the process of writing another book that she will self-publish. While working on the book, a lay sister passed away. Her passing caused Mary to set her work aside and research the lives of lay sisters and choir sisters. She is now finishing the book.
I have only “met” Mary through interview questions via email. Yet after reading her responses, I “see” a lady who enjoys life to the fullest, easily and gladly shares her personal stories and her faith, never overlooks an opportunity to encourage and teach, is truly concerned about others and has a keen eye for detail. I’m glad she freely shared some of her stories with me.
© June 2011 Shirley S. Tye