Sister Marilyn Terwilliger, SSJ, formerly Sr. Rosaire Marie Terwilliger, 84, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania, died on December 27, 2018. She was in the 67th year of her religious life. She was born on July 19, 1934 in Bradford, Pennsylvania, the daughter of the late Frank and Cecelia McDermott Terwilliger.
She was a 1953 graduate of St. Bernard High School in Bradford, PA. She received a B.S. degree in Elementary Education from Villa Maria College, Erie, in 1964 and she attended Indiana University and the University of Detroit.
Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.
She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph from St. Bernard Parish in Bradford, PA in 1952 and professed her final vows in 1958. She celebrated her Diamond Jubilee commemorating 60 years of religious life in 2012.
Sister Marilyn was a teacher, administrator and social worker in the Erie Diocese and taught at Holy Rosary, St. Andrew, St. Patrick and Villa Maria Academy, all in Erie; and St. Leo, Ridgway; St. Francis, Clearfield; St. Agatha/ Seton School, Meadville; and Bradford Central Catholic School, Bradford, PA. She was a former principal of Villa Maria Academy and served as placement director at Villa Maria College. She was active in Middle States evaluations, in-service drug workshops and the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal. She also ministered at Saint Vincent Hospital, Gannon University and St. Martin’s Center, all in Erie. In 1983, she was appointed Administrator of St. Peter Manor, a high-rise living facility with 283 apartments for low-income senior citizens and disabled persons, operated by the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, TN. She received the 2001 Monsignor Paul W. Clunan Award for outstanding support in furthering the mission of Associated Catholic Charities of Memphis, Tennessee. She continued serving at St. Peter Manor for 23 years until she became ill and returned to Erie.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brothers, William, Francis, James, Richard, and John and her sisters, Patricia Terwilliger and Jeanne Justus. She is survived by several nieces and nephews and by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania.
