- Date Of Birth: March 15, 1929
- Date Of Death: November 17, 2017
- State: Massachusetts
Sister of Providence, Sr. Mary Peter, died on November 17, 2017 in the 71st year of her religious life. Born Rosemary Louise Meckel in Holyoke, MA, she was the daughter of the late William and Mary (Cadigan) Meckel. Sr. Mary Peter entered the Sisters of Providence congregation in 1947 after graduating from Sacred Heart High School, in Holyoke. She ministered for several years in the accounting offices of institutions staffed by the Sisters of Providence including St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, the former St. Luke’s Hospital in Pittsfield and at Providence Hospital in Holyoke. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Bentley College in in 1965, after which she served as comptroller and supervisor of the business office at St. Vincent Hospital until 1968. Sister then continued her education, earning her MBA from Boston College in 1970 while at the same time serving as assistant controller at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. In 1972, she began a new ministry as Grants and Research Aide for the Methadone Maintenance Program at Providence Hospital. Sister’s next ministry in 1977 involved working directly with the poor at The Mustard Seed and Abby House in Worcester as well as at Deborah’s Place in Washington, DC. From 1978 through 1988, Sister Mary Peter served as Director of the Open Pantry in Springfield. In 1988, she began Assistant Development Director for St. Francis House in Boston and, in the same year, was elected to the Executive Council of the Sisters of Providence (1989 – 1997).
In 1990, Sister began work at the Franklin County Community Food Program in Greenfield.
