Sister Kathleen Shannon, Baltimore native and math teacher, dies at 70

A funeral service was held Aug. 23 for Daughter of Charity Sister Kathleen Shannon, a Baltimore native and math teacher. She died Aug. 20 at age 70 of lymphoma at Villa St. Michael in Emmitsburg.

She was serving at St. Agnes House in Baltimore at the time of her death. 

Early in her mission, Sister Kathleen served as a teacher at St. Joseph High School in Emmitsburg and Seton High School in Baltimore. For the past 13 years, she taught math in the Pharmacy and Medical Technician Program at Caroline Center in Baltimore.

Sister Kathleen was born Jan. 6, 1955, in Baltimore, the first of three children born to Leona Elizabeth (Kline) and James Andrew Shannon. She entered the Daughters of Charity April 6, 1976, in Emmitsburg from St. Matthew Parish in Northeast Baltimore.

After completing her initial formation, Sister Kathleen was sent on mission to St. Joseph High School in Emmitsburg to assist in the school. She was then missioned to St. Catherine Labouré School in Wheaton and earned a degree in mathematics and secondary education at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She later earned master’s degrees in math from the University of Maryland and business from what is now Loyola University Maryland.

In addition to Emmitsburg and Baltimore, she taught math at schools in Portsmouth, Va., and Bladensburg.

She served at Our Lady Queen of Peace School in Washington, D.C.,  as the local superior from 1993 to 1999, and Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg. 

She assisted in the creation and management of the Perry Family Health Center in Washington, D.C., and served in mission services at Sacred Heart Hospital, Cumberland, Md., and at Providence Hospital, Washington, D.C., and as outreach coordinator at St. Cyprian Parish in Georgetown, S.C. 

Sister Kathleen was preceded in death by her father. She is survived by her mother, her sister Colleen Rose, brother Michael Thomas and sister-in-law Lori.

A wake service was held for Sister Kathleen Aug. 22 in the Villa Chapel in Emmitsburg, with the Mass of Christian Burial held the following day in the Basilica Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Burial followed in the Sacred Heart Cemetery on the grounds. 

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