Sister Mary Daria Rush, CDP
February 5, 1929 – November 5, 2024
Sister Mary Daria Rush, CDP, age 95, entered eternal life on November 5, 2024. She was the seventh of Thomas and Emma (Rickabaugh) Rush’s eleven children. Her baptismal name was Elizabeth Joan. She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on February 5, 1929.
Elizabeth met the Sisters of Divine Providence (CDP) at Holy Family High School. The seed for a religious vocation was present but where to plant it was yet unknown. While attending St. Johns Hospital X-Ray Technology School, she met a different religious order. Her mother wished for her to join the Benedictines. Elizabeth’s passion was in the medical field, doing hospital work as a way to help with the care of the sick. She thought her favorite order, the CDP, was only involved in education. Her provident God had a plan because when she mentioned this to her favorite CDP, Sister Ethelreda, she discovered that the CDP was the first administrator of St. Ann Hospital in Abilene, Texas.
In June 1950 Elizabeth entered Our Lady of the Lake Convent, San Antonio to become a Sister of Divine Providence. She professed her first vows on June 22, 1952, and received the name Sister Mary Daria. For eleven years, Sister Daria served as an X-ray technician in three different hospitals: St. Ann Hospital, Abilene, Texas, Wilson County Memoria in Floresville, Texas, and Madonna Hospital in Denison, Texas. Her longest service, 39 consecutive years, was as a medical records technician at the Wilson County Memorial Hospital in Floresville, Texas.
Sister Daria had a sense of humor and a soft personality. During one work evaluation, her boss said she was not adaptable to change. In her mind, Sister Daria said: I started out on a manual typewriter, changed to an electric typewriter, then changed to a word processor, and am now working on a computer. What does she mean that I don’t take to change? She remained confident and faithful in her line of work for 39 years. Her long hour work days did not allow for much interaction outside of the hospital. Her spiritual presence was a blessing to many co-workers, hundreds of patients, and their family members with whom she engaged. She was an avid correspondent and consistently wrote letters to family and friends. Her love for nature was evident in her wonderful collection of African violets and unique seashells. As a recognition of her 50th Jubilee the Governor of Oklahoma proclaimed June 8-9, 2002 as Sister Mary Daria Days.
She is preceded in death by her parents Thomas Roger Anthony and Emma Rush and siblings Thomas R. A. Rush, Jr. (Genevieve), Richard Leo Rush (Patricia), Anna Marie McAuliffe (Richard), John Cullen Rush (Betty), Ellen Agnes Geiger (Carl), Harry Joseph Rush (Jerry Englert, Rose), William Bernard Rush (Elsie), Margaret Cecilia Greener (Raymond), Donald Benedict Rush, and Mary Frances Cole (Buddy Leon Cole, Jim Williamson.) She is survived by her sister-in-law, Jacquelin Helm, numerous nieces, and nephews, and her Sisters of Divine Providence.
Sister Daria remains in the hearts of those who knew her. Please join us for her Rosary on Monday, November 11, 2024, at 4:00 p.m.; Wake, at 6:30 p.m.; Mass of Resurrection on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. All services will be in Annunciation Chapel at Our Lady of the Lake Convent Center. In lieu of flowers, you may wish to make a memorial contribution to the Sisters of Divine Providence, 515 S.W. 24th Street, San Antonio, Texas 78207-4619.