She straddles her Honda Metropolitan scooter and dashes off on her rounds. She is practically omnipresent, and her regular visitations -- those circuitous routes she takes on her mo-ped, from neighborhood to neighborhood -- are akin to a comet's path around the sun: predictable, reliable.
Then add her clear gaze, ready smile and confident faith and you've got something more: comfort and consolation.
"She's an easy person to talk to," says Muriel Clarkin of Mount Pleasant. After her son, Michael, was crushed by a shipping container in a November 2004 port accident and suffered extensive brain damage, Sister Mary Cyril made numerous trips to the intensive care unit at the Medical University to spend time with the family.
"She always had a smile on her face," Clarkin says. "Her face is just outstanding. It never has a frown on it."
Three years later, Michael Clarkin, still recovering from the accident, was invited by the nun to address an audience that filled the big room at the senior ministries house. When the lecture was over, Sister Mary Cyril put her arm around Michael and squeezed.
"She was so proud of him, she just makes you feel so good," Clarkin says.
Jan Maize, a Dunes West resident and longtime member of the parish, frequently has volunteered with senior ministries.
"We're just thrilled to have her," Maize says. "She has more energy. She's like a dynamo."
Where does she get that energy?
