Sister Clare MacIsaac (Sr. Leo Marion), age 81, died at the Marie Rose Center at Mary’s Woods in Lake Oswego, Oregon, on March 26, 2011. She was a vowed member of the Sisters of the Holy Names for 61 years. The Mass of Christian Burial was held on March 31, 2011 in the Provincial House Chapel.

Sister Clare called Everett, Washington, home until she was 18, and loved that city in Puget Sound. Hers was a close-knit family of four boys and three girls, children of John Alexander MacIsaac and Margaret Janet McDonald MacIsaac. In a community where many of the sisters claimed Irish backgrounds, Sister Clare proudly claimed her Scots lineage, and followed some of the family customs brought from the old country all through her life.

In her sophomore year of high school Clare traveled to Seattle to become a boarder at Holy Names Academy, and it was after graduation there in 1947 that she entered the convent of the Holy Names. She appreciated her time at the Academy and the opportunity to “get to know” the sisters, but the desire to become a sister preceded that time of her life. “I knew I wanted to be a sister when I was six years old,” she said.

Life was not always easy in the novitiate. Shy by nature, and a lover of books and study, she found the daily routine, and the need to read and speak before a group difficult, but Sister Leo Marion, as she was known then, came into her own after she left the novitiate and started her teaching career and had time to pursue her love of study, particularly of mathematics, although literature and languages also fascinated her. When she went to Holy Names Academy in Spokane, her modified schedule allowed her to take classes, which eventually led to a BA in Mathematics from Marylhurst College.

Some time later she spent a memorable year in Indiana at Notre Dame University earning her master’s degree, also in Mathematics. She remembered fondly the changing seasons there and the time for study with no other obligations. After she experienced more high school teaching in Eugene and Medford, she spent five more years at the University of Oregon where she earned a Ph.D. in her chosen field.

For many years she taught Mathematics at Marylhurst College, including a very popular course in “Math for people who don’t like math.” She taught at St. Mary’s Academy and served as registrar at Marylhurst before retiring to live in Portland.

Because she had always lived in large convents she had not had the experience of shopping for food and cooking her own meals. So apartment living brought new experiences, not always ones she enjoyed. She did, however, learn to shop by catalog and became an expert in the process, spending happy hours poring over their endless possibilities for clothes, furnishings, and games, and being a source of information for others.

An extremely bright, well-read woman, she drew closer to her younger sister, also a Holy Names sister. Sister Clare and Sister Colleen took daily walks, rain or shine, followed by a cup of British tea for many years, until Sister Colleen's death in 1995. This was a great loss to Sister Clare, but she accepted the loss in her customary faith-filled way. She retired to Mary’s Woods in 2005.

Sister Clare is survived by her brothers Joe, John Leo, Donald and Bill, nieces and nephews and the members of her religious community. Remembrances may be made to the Holy Names Sisters Foundation, PO Box 411, Marylhurst, OR 97036.