Sister Jeanne Virginia Heinisch, SNJM
Sister Mary of Nazareth

December 2, 1927–January 3, 2010 (Los Gatos, CA)

Jeanne Virginia Heinisch was born December 2, 1927, in Alhambra, California, to Richard Anton Heinisch and Jeanne Elizabeth Greene. She had one younger sibling, Marilyn.

At age four, Jeanne experienced her greatest loss when her mother died giving birth to Jeanne's younger sister Marilyn. Jeanne's father remarried, but after a few years Jeanne once again experienced loss, this time of her stepmother who died when Jeanne was only six years old. Then Jeanne and Marilyn's aunt and uncle raised the young girls with the help of their dad in their Alhambra home.

Jeanne began and completed her elementary education with the Sisters of the Holy Names at All Souls School in Alhambra. During these formative years she grew in grace...and in "height"...a condition that made her very self-conscious among the others in her class. However, she derived great joy from her teachers and from participation in the school's musical stage productions and other activities. While in the first grade she met Helen O'Sullivan, who would become her life-long friend.

In the ninth grade Jeanne enrolled at Ramona Convent in Alhambra, California. Here she was encouraged by Sister Theresa Agnes to take violin lessons so she could be in the orchestra. Her friend Helen O'Sullivan had already signed up for clarinet. Each morning the two girls, loaded with books, violin and clarinet, pedaled their bikes to Ramona and together enjoyed practicing on their instruments, soon earning membership in the Ramona Convent Orchestra. Other teachers contributed to Jeanne's appreciation for English, literature and history, all of which proved valuable in her teaching years.

At the end of her junior year, Jeanne's parents decided to enroll her as a boarder at Ramona. The loving care and guidance from the Sisters had a strong influence and this influence became a persistent invitation to join the Community. She learned about Mother Marie-Rose and much more from the example of her many teachers. It was inevitable that Jeanne's calling was to be a Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.

In July of 1945, following high school graduation, Jeanne and her childhood friend Helen O'Sullivan were accepted into the Holy Names Novitiate in Oakland, California. She received her B. A. in English and her teaching credential from College of the Holy Names in Oakland, California. She received her M.A. in Cinema from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. She taught at elementary and secondary schools.

In 1982, Sister Jeanne Virginia began another career, this time by volunteering to work with poor and chronically mentally ill seniors. She was hired as Director of Volunteers at the Center for Healthy Aging in Santa Monica. Later she ministered at St. John of God Hospital in Los Angeles where she was in charge of developing and organizing programs for volunteers. She was a lightening rod of creative ideas for this institution and succeeded in developing wonderful changes for the residents.

When her health failed and she could no longer continue her ministry at St. John of God Hospital, she semi-retired to St. Andrew Convent in Pasadena, California, where she had been in residence for some years. Periods of ill health and hospitalization followed, and when the Sisters no longer resided in the parish convent, Sister moved to the Alhambra Retirement Community where, with her usual joy of living, she got along well with the other residents and even became a member of the Residents' Board.