RIP, 2 OLSH Sisters, Eileen van der Lee and Pauline Pitman.
Our condolences to the Sisters, the 3rd and 4th deaths this year.
Reading the Eulogies, we discover the talents and ministries – and get a strong sense of what it was like in PNG and the NT ‘in those days’.
Eulogy: Sr Eileen van der Lee fdnsc (5.3.1930 - 21.1.2022)
I have loved you with an everlasting love. I am constant in my affection for you.
These words from the prophet Jeremiah capture well the driving force behind our dear Sister, Eileen as she had absolute confidence in the one who called her into life and loved her unconditionally. At approximately 8 pm on Friday 21st January she gently slipped into the loving embrace of the one who had loved her with an everlasting love, throughout her 91 years ago.
Today we come together to celebrate the life of Eileen van der Lee, a Daughter of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart whose ministry in health showed care, concern and compassion for all who came to her especially the people of Papua New Guinea. Her dedication as a nurse came from her closeness to Jesus to whom she dedicated her life for 71 years.
To Eileens’s brother Joseph, and all her relatives and friends who loved her so much and are deeply saddened by her death, we offer our deep sympathy and love. We also offer sympathy to those who join us from around the world, especially, our Sisters.
Eileen, as we called her, was born Aldagonda Eileen van der Lee, in Ceduna, South Australia on 5th March 1930 to Petrus and Suzannah. Her parents grew up in Europe through the war, after they were married, they migrated to Australia from the Netherlands. Eileen’s father was a labourer and in the 1920’s he helped build the jetty at Cape Thevenard in Ceduna. It was in Cape Thevenard, an isolated coastal village that Eileen attended school. The family had a strong Catholic faith, it was this faith in God that supported them during the difficult years of the Depression. Eileen recalls attending Mass with the family every two months when a priest was able to travel. Eileen had no formal religious instruction, the example of her parents and the many holy pictures on the walls of her home, educated her in her faith.
The Annals was one publication the family received and here Eileen delighted to read about the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. No doubt at this time she started to dream about being a missionary Sister. I’m sure Eileen’s early years living in an isolated town prepared her for life as a missionary. In 1946 Eileen moved to Adelaide for work as a telephonist and it was here that she met Fr Cuthbert Hoy MSC and the sisters at Kilburn. Eileen had a deep sense God was calling her to be a Daughter of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and our determined Eileen was ready to enter the Novitiate. Eileen’s mother did not agree to her entering the Convent and found it very hard and even took Eileen to the police to try to prevent her from entering. As she was eighteen years old, the police said they could not prevent her from going but she could not take any permanent vows until she was 21. Eileen’s father was agreeable for her to go and told her that if she wanted to come back, there was always a home for her. In1948, she entered the novitiate at Hartzer Park and made her first vows in July 1950. She was given the name, Sr Cuthbert; thus, began Eileen’s lifelong ministry and her epic journey as a passionate, enthusiastic nurse and missionary Sister.
Eileen did her general nurse training at St Vincent’s Hospital from 1951 to 1954. From 1954 to 1956 she worked at the leprosarium at Chanel Island and East Arm in the Northern Territory. This was followed by four years nursing at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Hospital, Randwick. During this time she studied as an Operating Theatre Sister at Lewisham Hospital and with Sr Constance Daley, started the theatre at Randwick. She also trained as a midwife at Calvary Hospital.
In 1964 her dream of going to the missions was realised and with joy and enthusiasm she accepted a move to Papua New Guinea. After a year at Paparatava, Rabaul, she was appointed to the newly opened Mission Station of St. Paul’s Boregaina in the Rigo District east of Port Moresby. Sr M Paul had started a small clinic for the people but with the arrival of Eileen a very good general clinic was established and provided prenatal care for the women. Eileen began going to nearby villages to provide health care for the people and trained a young woman to be her helper. She showed herself to be an excellent nurse and had a special skill in diagnosing illnesses.
In 1969 Eileen commenced her many years of community health nursing and maternal child health at various mission stations on New Britain Island – including Kilenge, Vunapope, Paparatava, Uvol and Napapar. Many of these were very isolated with no doctors nearby and when necessary she would seek advice from a doctor over the mission radio sched. Usually there were two or three sisters in the community. Eileen was often called upon to care for the needs of the German MSC priests and brothers, including preparing meals for them. Some of the sisters were Dutch and with her Dutch heritage she would have felt a special bonding with them.
Eileen was an excellent nurse, compassionate, resilient and hardworking, she endured many difficulties with living in isolated missions with her reliance on the Grace of God.
When she was at Kilenge, a station at the very tip of the west end of the island, she was in charge of the mission hospital with any medical help many days by boat away. But she had an interesting “sideline”. Kilenge has a very active volcano, not very far from the Mission, and Eileen was the one who reported its activity daily to the Vulcanologist in Rabaul via the two-way radio.
In 1990, after 37 years and since Independence in PNG and with many trained local people in Papua New Guinea, Eileen transferred to the Australian Province. She said that in many ways she found this move quite difficult after working a number of years in the conservative Archdiocese of Rabaul. From then until 2008 she nursed at St Joseph’s Aged Care Facility.
Eileen was a good friend to many, she enjoyed walking, knitting, reading and swimming. When it was becoming apparent that Eileen’s health was failing, she asked to transfer to St Joseph’s Aged Care Facility, she accepted her aging with her typical resignation. It was here that she was beautifully cared for until her death.
Eulogy: Sr Pauline Pitman fdnsc (21.4.1937 - 19.1.2022)
“You did not choose me, I chose you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. (John 15:16)
Early on Wednesday afternoon, 19th January, Pauline gently and peacefully breathed her last breath and came face to face with God whom she had lovingly and generously served. Pauline was 84 years old and had just celebrated the 64th anniversary of her Religious Profession as a Daughter of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
To Pauline’s brothers Michael and Gregory, her nieces and nephews and all her relatives and friends who loved her so much and are deeply saddened by her death, we offer our deep sympathy and love. You know well her deep love for you, her pride and joy in you, and her gratitude to you. We also offer sympathy to those who join us from around the world, especially, our Sisters.
Pauline Mary Pitman was born in Sale, Victoria on 21st April, 1937 to Charles and Nora Pitman, the third child of five children.
In 1940 the family moved to Lidennow South and they stayed here during the war years.
The final years of World War 2, when Pauline was between the ages of five and 10 years old, affected her during the whole of her life. She remembers many Italian POWS working on the dairy farms and many of the local young men were away fighting in the war.
Her father had a one teacher school with eight classes. Pauline was determined to start school and at age 4 she started school and brought the Lindenow South State School enrolment up to 30! Pauline attended a number of schools because of her father’s job. She spent six years at Notre Dame de Sion School, a year boarding with the Brigidines in Mentone, completing her studies at Sacred Heart College, Shepparton. Pauline embraced these moves because it opened her world to make a number of friends to enjoy various interests with, including sport, dancing and we won’t be surprised to hear that Pauline herself says she had a great social life. On completing her secondary education Pauline went to Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy because she wanted to be a nurse and she knew she could do nursing there.
Pauline’s parents had a deep faith with love of the rosary, mass and devotion to the Sacred Heart. There was always a copy of the latest Annals in the family home and when Pauline was in Grade 5 she dreamed of being a missionary. The dream continued to grow and when she was 11 she met Sr Aileen Crowe who was enroute to Kiribati and our ever decisive Pauline decided at that moment that as soon as she was able she would join the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
In 1956 Pauline entered the Novitiate at Bowral, taking the name Sr Mario. She was professed in January 1958 at Hartzer Park. After profession Pauline studied to be a nurse and midwife and her life long dream to be a missionary as a DOLSH was fulfilled when on the 31st May, 1965 she travelled to PNG to be a Missionary and a nurse. Her first appointment was eighteen months nursing at St Therese’s hospital at Badili in Port Moresby.
The next six years Pauline was nursing at Napapar, Uvol and Paparatava on New Britain Island. This involved going on patrol to the villages and assisting the people medically in their own situations. She also trained PNG nurses who became the backbone of the health system run by the Catholic Church. Pauline’s work was to keep up the immunization of babies and to see the mothers for antenatal treatment. This was very important and reports were made each month and sent to the Health Department. As with all our nursing Sisters on isolated outstations, Pauline was called upon to diagnose and treat various conditions that normally a doctor would attend to. The people greatly appreciated her care of them and Pauline was grateful to the other Sisters in community who – though they were not nurses – helped out in the hospital when there was a need.
In 1976 Pauline returned to Port Moresby where for the next two years she was the National Coordinator for Natural Family Planning in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. This was an appointment by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference. During this time Pauline travelled to many Dioceses to teach leaders about the Billings Method of Natural Family Planning. She found this very satisfying and the men and women she trained continued this work after she left.
Unfortunately, the reactions she had to the anti-malarial tablets brought her back to Australia in 1978. She firstly resided at Kensington and then in Toowoomba for two years where she continued her Natural Family Planning work. On her return to Kensington, she was infirmarian both at the Convent and at Sacred Heart Monastery Infirmary. From 1983 to 1985 she was once more in Toowoomba. She spent a year at Taroom doing pastoral work before going to Port Keats and Santa Teresa where she nursed and trained others.
Pauline always showed an interest in others and had a good memory for people she had met and had socialised with. She was very outgoing and touched the lives of many.
When it was becoming apparent that Pauline’s health was failing she asked to transfer to St Joseph’s Aged Care Facility in 2007. What a time of suffering for our dear Pauline! It was at St Joseph’s that she was beautifully cared for until her death.
We thank God for the many gifts given to Sr Pauline Pitman. We thank the Pitman family for their gift of her to our religious family.
We will remember Pauline as a woman of deep faith who cared for the sick and infirmed with tenderness and compassion.
We thank you Pauline for your interest in each one of us, your kindness and good humour.
