Sister Mary Therese Clennon

Sister Mary Clennon, CSC, died at Saint Agnes Medical Center February 10, 2021. For over two decades she had served as Director of Holy Cross Center for Women and Holy Cross Clinic at Poverello House providing services and opportunities for the less fortunate. In the fall of 2019 she retired from that role and planned to do volunteer ministry in the Fresno community. Because of COVID 19 those plans never materialized.

Sister Mary knew at an early age that she wanted to live her life in service to others. Following in the footsteps of her older sister, she left her northern Illinois home in 1954 to join the convent. Sister Mary's career at Saint Agnes began in the early '70s, working first as a nurse clinical specialist and then as Director of Home Health. In 1979, she joined the Catholic Relief Services to care for Cambodian refugees in Thailand. Sister Mary eventually returned to healthcare administration as Director of Nursing for a long-term care facility in Louisiana. It was here that she got the call from Sister Ruth Marie Nickerson, asking her to come back to Fresno to oversee Holy Cross Clinic at Poverello. She happily accepted and one year later also took on responsibility for Holy Cross Center for Women.

Her religious community, the Sisters of Holy Cross, the Saint Agnes Medical Center community, her co-workers and volunteers at Holy Cross Center for Women, her many friends, as well as her family grieve her death.

A memorial fund in the name of the Sisters of the Holy Cross has been created by Saint Agnes Foundation. The fund will continue the Sisters’ legacy of serving the most vulnerable. Anyone wishing to make a tribute gift in memory of Sister Mary may call the Foundation Office at 450-2040.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.whitehurstsullivan.com for the Clennon family.