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BY ERIKA ANDERSON
Staff Writer
ATLANTA--There is a youthfulness about Sister Sally White, GNSH, that defies
the golden jubilee she is celebrating.
It is evidenced by the sparkle in her eyes and in the way she covers her
mouth when she giggles, like a young girl who has just learned a secret. It is
especially evident in the way the St. Joseph’s Hospital chaplain has
tirelessly cared for her patients for the past 10 years, bringing hope and joy,
as well as her boundless energy, to those who are suffering.
Celebrating 50 years as a Grey Nun of the Sacred Heart, Sister White loves
what she does. She has discovered God in a special way by seeing him in those
who have been diagnosed with cancer.
“Cancer patients are special people,” she said. “When you
think of what they’re coping with, to be shocked with this disease,
it’s hard to imagine. But most have marvelous faith. They have marvelous
determination, marvelous hope and marvelous positive attitudes.”
Sister White did not know, growing up, that she would one day minister to
oncology patients. Born in Augusta and raised in Atlanta by a “very pious
German Catholic mother,” and a non-Catholic father, young Sally White
thought she would marry, have a big family and perhaps become a language
teacher. But God had other plans.
Sister White attended Catholic schools in Atlanta, first at the now-closed
Sacred Heart School, where she was educated by the Sisters of St. Joseph, then
at Christ the King School and Christ the King High School, where the Grey Nuns
of the Sacred Heart formed a lasting impression on the young student.
“I loved the nuns,” she said. “They had a refinement and a
graciousness about them that I fell in love with.”
Sister White believes that God used her grade school teachers to plant the
seeds of her vocation to Religious life.
“God seemed to put that desire in my heart, but it would go away and
come back and go away and come back.”
That desire stuck with Sister White, and in early September 1949, at the age
of 18, she boarded a train at the Old Terminal Railroad Station in Atlanta with
two of her classmates bound for the Grey Nuns convent in Philadelphia. She
recalls quite a gathering, and her brothers and sister, along with her parents,
were there to bid her farewell.
“I remember we were on the train, drying our tears because we had been
crying so much, and this woman said, ‘I don’t know why you girls are
so upset; you’re only going off to college,’” she said.
“It’s strange the things you remember.”
Sister White credits her four years of what she calls “rigid
training” with the Grey Nuns for deepening her relationship with God.
“The training was wonderful,” she said. “It was always rooted
in prayer. That’s what always kept us going. If you’re not called to
the life, God will let you know.”
Sister White professed her vows on June 23, 1952.
“You knew something wonderful was happening, but you couldn’t
quite put your finger on it,” she said. “It was a very special
day.”
Much of Sister White’s Religious life has been spent as an educator.
She has over 20 years of educational experience in Atlanta, including her
position as the first principal of St. Jude the Apostle School, as well as
teaching positions at Christ the King School and St. Pius X High School.
“I loved teaching,” she said. “I think there’s an art in
keeping people interested in what you’re saying.”
She also worked in administration for the Grey Nuns at their motherhouse in
Yardley, Pa. She recalls this as a challenging and exciting time, very soon
after Vatican II.
“Religious communities were making lots of changes,” she said.
“It was an exciting time, but a painful time because some people were
forced to relinquish the security they felt.”
She said that this was the time that the Grey Nuns began to recapture the
spirit of their foundress.
“We became fully in touch with Marguerite D’Youville and all that
she was about, which was trust in God,” she said.
Sister White spent a year and a half at a house of prayer, a sabbatical that
she said “renewed and revitalized” her.
“It was about getting away and reflecting on my life,” she said.
“It was a special time that deepened my relationship with God.”
Sister White holds a bachelor’s degree in English from D’Youville
College in Buffalo, N.Y., and a master of education degree in administration
from the University of Georgia. In 1988, she earned a master’s degree in
pastoral studies from Loyola University in New Orleans, a degree that led to
the work to which she feels truly called.
It was while working at the motherhouse that Sister White had her first
experience in ministry to the dying, which, she says, prepared her for her role
as a chaplain at St. Joseph’s. “It really touched my heart,” she
said.
Each day Sister White arrives at the pastoral care office carrying her blue
tote bag that has on it an Atlanta logo, the words intertwined with Georgia
peaches. Sister White herself is a Georgia peach, often referring to people as
“precious” and “dahlin.” She is simple, “low
key,” she says, wearing a gold Jerusalem cross brought back from the Holy
Land by a good friend, small gold earrings and eyeglasses to complement her
basic skirts and blazers.
This morning she checks her messages and finds out what happened while she
was gone overnight. Then she heads up to the Sixth Floor West Cancer Unit,
where she visits her patients, sometimes praying with them, other times just
visiting them and bringing them good cheer and her signature joy-filled smile.
“She’s our shining light,” said Frances Marthone, director of
oncology nursing at St. Joseph’s.
“She has a love of life and she’s very optimistic about
everything. Even in the face of despair she always has a glimmer of hope and
that’s what she shows our patients,” she said. “She comforts
them … They are physically changed when she leaves them, whether they have
more peace or more joy … There is a physical manifestation of her work
because she is so awesome. We just love her dearly.”
Marthone has made Sister White more than just a colleague at work. She has
made her part of the family. Sister White is the godmother of Marthone’s
son, John Anthony.
Marthone, a parishioner of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Alpharetta, said
that Sister White was the perfect choice as her son’s godmother.
“She demonstrates everything I value--honesty, integrity, praising
God,” she said. “She’s just a funny, personable, wonderful
woman.”
Sister White said she feels blessed to work at St. Joseph’s, where she
has made a connection with many people. She said that her faith has been
strengthened, but it has also been tested.
“Yes, I weep; yes, I pray; yes, I grapple with God,” she said.
“It’s a test of your faith, but you come back the next day. I love
the people, and I believe in what I’m doing and I believe that God is
present in that suffering.”
Sister White said her sole purpose in her ministry is bringing her patients
to God.
“All I want my patients to do is find peace with God before they take
their last breath,” she said. “That’s what really matters.”
In reflecting on her 50 years as a Grey Nun, Sister White is amazed at how
quickly the time has flown and said she has come to an awareness that she has
been “spoiled” by God.
“I have just been overwhelmed with God’s goodness in my
life.”
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