Jubilarians: Sister Frances Gervasio, MPF; Sister Dorothy Jancola, RSM

Sister Frances Gervasio, MPF
70 Years

Sister Frances Gervasio knew from a very young age that she wanted to emulate her mentors and enter religious life as a Religious Teacher Filippini. Born and raised in Trenton, she attended St. Joachim School there, and later Villa Walsh Academy, both served by the Religious Teachers Filippini. A daughter of Vincenza and Tamarro Gervasio, she was one of 13 children, seven of whom are still alive.

“I chose to follow the Filippinis in grammar school,” she said. “I did a lot of work alongside them – I watched the children in the classrooms, I worked in the convent. Seeing how lovingly they worked with children, I was enticed to join them.” Sister Frances entered the convent in March 1955 and professed her vows in August 1958. She first taught in Newark in a Catholic elementary school, and then went on to study at St. Elizabeth College in Convent Station.

Her career as a teacher took Sister Frances to Catholic schools in the Oranges and Garfield in the Archdiocese of Newark, and later to schools in the dioceses of Trenton, Camden and Metuchen.

When her teaching career ended 25 years ago, Sister Frances began ministry to the sick and homebound. Always affiliated with a local parish, she has worked in Long Branch, Merchantville, New Brunswick, and now at St. Ann Parish in Raritan.

“People are so happy when I come, but I tell them, ‘You don’t know what you do for me!’” she said. “They are waiting for you.” Days can be long, she said, but “You are never tired of it, because you know the good you are doing.”

Although she professes that her greatest joy in her vocation has come from teaching and from ministering to the sick, she notes that she loved the very young children, who she affectionately called her “shooka nooka pootchas.”

Sister Frances has a brother, a priest – Monsignor Thomas Gervasio, the vicar general in the Diocese of Trenton and pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows-St. Anthony Parish in Hamilton. “Our parents were very religious, giving people,” Sister Frances recalls, “who always showed love, and were always there for us, although they worked very hard.” Although her father did not encourage her vocation, he was very proud to be the parent of both a religious sister and a priest.

Sister Frances prays her favorite prayers, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, “for my children, all my seniors, all the sick, my family, and always for our sisters’ priests.” But in her ministry, where she serves those who sometimes have no one else to visit, “I pray for them, and for others who help people,” she concluded.

By Susan Odenthal, Correspondent
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​Sister Dorothy Jancola, RSM
70 Years

Mercy Sister Dorothy Jancola, the second of eight children of Peter and Josephine Jancola, was born in Perth Amboy. She received her elementary and secondary education from Sisters of Mercy teachers in South Amboy’s St. Mary Parish Elementary School and St. Mary High School, and graduated from high school in 1955.

Sister Dorothy received both degrees in the subject of mathematics: her bachelor of arts from Georgian Court College (now University), Lakewood, and a master’s degree in math education from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), Ewing.

From 1957 to 1996, she taught math in junior high grades in Camden and Phillipsburg, followed by terms in Cathedral High School, Trenton, (where she also served as assistant principal), and Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville.

In 1980, Sister Dorothy began her ministry as pastoral associate in St. George Parish, Titusville. About her busy and diverse job, she once said, “I feel most blest when I share in the lives of our families in joyous as well as sad occasions.”

By Christina Leslie, Contributing Editor