Dominican Sister of Peace Mary Martin (Genevieve) Weaver, 92, died at the Great Bend, KS, Motherhouse infirmary on May 28, 2017. She was born in 1925 in Grainfield, KS, the daughter of the late Jacob and Christina Stremel Weaver. In 1942, she entered the Dominican Sisters of Great Bend, now the Dominican Sisters of Peace. She celebrated 70 years of vowed religious life in 2014.
Sr. Mary Martin earned a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education from Marymount College in Salina, KS. She received a LPN from St. Anthony Hospital, and an RN degree from North Community College in Denver, CO.
Sr. Mary Martin’s ministries were focused on caring for God’s people at the beginning and the close of their lives. Her first ministry, which lasted more than 20 years, took her across Kansas and Colorado teaching elementary school children. After observing that, in her opinion, some nurses didn’t “care enough for their patients,” Sr. Mary Martin decided to enter the field herself. She returned to school to obtain her RN degree and began a ministry in senior care. She found much satisfaction in her work with patients at the Castle Garden Nursing Home and as a Kindred Care Nurse Consultant in Northglenn. “It’s a joy to be with these people at the nursing home,” she told the Denver Catholic Register.
She expanded her personal ministry to her community by playing the organ, working with parishioners going through the annulment process and by helping the seniors in the parish. Her prayer and presence in the Motherhouse infirmary was much appreciated by her Sisters and the nursing staff.
More than strong in spirit, Sr. Mary Martin was fit and strong in body. Sr. Mary Martin enjoyed basketball, technical walking, horseshoes and speed skating, winning more than 85 medals in local and national senior competitions. She won a number of medals at the National Senior Olympiad, leading to the nickname, “The Speed Skating Nun.” She always competed in her veil and habit, and considered that to be a part of her ministry. “People get to know me because I always wear my veil,” Sister Mary Martin said in an interview with the Denver Catholic Register. “It gives me a perfect chance to talk to many people about God.”
In 2007, while living in Denver, CO, she was struck by a car walking home from church, and moved to the Great Bend Motherhouse. She lived in the Motherhouse infirmary until the end of her life, where her always-sunny disposition made her much loved by Sisters and nurses alike.
Sr. Mary Martin is survived by one brother, Edward, and numerous nieces and nephews.
A Vigil of Remembrance and the Mass of Christian Burial was held on May 31 and June 1 at the Dominican Chapel of the Plains in Great Bend, KS. Sister Mary Martin was interred at the Sisters’ Resurrection Cemetery.
Memorial gifts in Sr. Mary Martin Weaver’s memory may be submitted securely online or sent to the Dominican Sisters of Peace, Office of Mission Advancement, 2320 Airport Drive, Columbus, OH 43219.