From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette-
Sister Judith Maroni didn’t set out to become a nun. After she graduated from the former Mount Gallitzin High School in Baden, she went to nursing school at St. Francis School of Nursing.
“I had gone to Catholic schools all of my life, and all through high school [becoming a nun] was certainly part of what I was thinking and feeling, but I wasn’t sure,” she said.
Despite encouragement from the high school principal and the fact that several of her classmates chose to enter the convent, Sister Maroni decided to follow the path of one of her favorite aunts.
“This was back in the ‘50s, and there really weren’t a lot of options for women back then. We were either funneled into nursing or teaching. Since I had always admired my aunt who was an industrial nurse, I decided to go into nursing,” she said.
As a young girl, Sister Maroni often accompanied her aunt to work at Crucible Steel in Midland and saw firsthand the work that her aunt performed. It fascinated her.
“I loved all of the instruments and loved watching her do sutures. I was so inquisitive and wanted to do it,” she said.
After she completed her nursing studies, she worked as a nurse at St. Francis for three years, living her life much like any young professional adult, she said.
