Sister Margaret Thérèse Yennock, 91, MFIC, a member of the Missionary Franciscan Sister of the Immaculate Conception, died Dec. 16, 2023, in Dedham, Mass.
Sr. Margaret Thérèse was a sibling of Diocese of Syracuse Msgr. Eugene M. Yennock, who died June 6, 2023, at the age of 97.
Sr. Margaret Thérèse died “very peacefully, very peacefully. I had been with her all week,” said Nancy Iannolo, RN, who had been Msgr. Yennock’s caretaker for 3½ years.
After Msgr. Yennock died, Sister Margaret Thérèse had told the Sun:
“My brother became a priest because the Franciscan Sisters taught him as a child: What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? And when he heard those words, he decided then that he was going to be a priest.”
“I became a sister,” she said, “because of the simplicity and the humility that I saw in the Franciscan Sisters. … They had a lot of joy. And they were humble. … And I think my brother was a very, very humble man.”
Sister Margaret Thérèse’s obituary from Dolan Funeral Homes and Cremation Services in Massachusetts says:
She was born in Syracuse of a large family including her sisters Norma Yennock of Syracuse and Marguerite Cesta of Florida. Deceased are her siblings Monsignor Eugene, Armand, Albert and John Yennock and Hilda Scaravillo.
Sister Margaret Thérèse entered the community in 1952 and was a teacher in East Boston, Mass.; Chestnut Hill, Mass.; Pittsburg, Pa; and Roslindale, Mass., where she taught and led very active Glee Clubs.
From there she moved to the Italian Home for Children in Boston, as a child care and social apostolate worker. Sr. Margaret Thérèse ministered for over 40 years there. She also remained active in ministry holding weekly yard sales for the Italian Home at her residence in Roslindale. When she retired to Highland Glen Residence in Westwood, Sister continued her outreach endearing herself to residents there. She was an active volunteer in her parish of Sacred Heart, Roslindale, and was a pastoral visitor to multitudes of friends and parishioners.
Sr. Margaret Thérèse brought her sense of humor, her love of music and her compassionate heart to the lives of everyone she encountered, including those of the staff from other floors and hospitals, who visited her up until the last hours of her life. Interment was planned for Assumption Cemetery, Syracuse.
