ATLANTA—Two Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet who are Atlanta natives and spent most of their active ministry serving in Georgia, celebrated jubilees on March 19.

Sister Marcella Meyer, CSJ, celebrated 70 years as a Sister of St. Joseph. Sister Margaret Lynch, CSJ, celebrated 60 years in the order. Both sisters are now living at Nazareth Living Center, a retirement center for the Sisters of St. Joseph in St. Louis, and celebrated their jubilees with others at a Mass of Thanksgiving on March 18.

Sister Meyer, originally from St. Anthony of Padua Church in the West End, was received as a Sister of St. Joseph in Augusta on March 19, 1931.

Sister Meyer spent most of her active Religious life in elementary education in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and Diocese of Savannah, serving at Mt. St. Joseph and St. Mary on the Hill in Augusta; at Sacred Heart in Savannah; at St. Francis Xavier in Brunswick; at St. Joseph Home in Washington; and at Blessed Sacrament and the Village of St. Joseph in Atlanta.

In the early 1970s, Sister Meyer went to work for Catholic Social Services, doing in-home care for the elderly. She visited homes, and took people to the doctor and to the hospital, often waiting the better part of a day while patients were receiving treatment. She frequented the St. Vincent de Paul center in downtown Atlanta, where she obtained food, clothing and furniture to give to her clients. Sister Meyer was a very familiar figure on the streets of Atlanta.

Sister Lynch, who was from Sacred Heart Church in Atlanta, was received into the order on March 19, 1941 in St. Louis.

Almost all of her active life was spent teaching at elementary schools in Georgia, where she served at St. Anthony, St. Paul of the Cross and Sacred Heart schools in Atlanta. She also taught in the Savannah Diocese at Sacred Heart in Savannah, St. Francis Xavier in Brunswick, St. John the Evangelist in Valdosta and St. Mary of the Hill in Augusta.

Sister Lynch never tired of advocating for the poor. As a social minister at St. John’s in Valdosta, she organized her 13 nieces and nephews, who had come together for a family reunion, to build a house for Habitat for Humanity. In 1998 she was named Woman of the Year by the Valdosta Junior Woman’s Club for her strong advocacy work to help the poor and needy, especially migrant workers and prisoners.