Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women

Patricia A. Murphy

The Mercy Sisters

I purchased this brick in honor of the Mercy Sisters, not a group of nuns, but certainly Catholic little girls on their way to Easter mass in their new clothes. They range in age from age from 14 to 6 and it is the mid-1950s in the Midwest. We were called the Mercy Sisters by the town derelict of our village. During that time, we were among the poorest pack of brats in our village and only our mother kept us from squalor. She was a very cranky woman. To escape the chaos of our home and the fierce anger of our mother and our alcoholic, mostly absentee father, we roamed the village and the nearby woods. We had a fantasy story of being rich, along with fantasy playmates we could alternately admire or scorn. We passed these playmates from older sisters to younger sisters. Now we are separated and all grown up but the Mercy Sisters are captured here in all their glory and Easter best.

Patricia A. Murphy

April 20, 2006

Last Updated: 6/27/22