Mary Garson

Mary Sunniva Garson MBE (3 October 1921 – 8 March 2007) was a Scottish nun. A Catholic convert from Presbyterianism, she bought a house to form a community after being convinced wider action was necessary to help the infirm, after visiting a semi-blind elderly woman caring for two people. As her work began to steadily increase, Garson purchased a second house which allowed her to expand and began to provide sheltered accommodation. The community was later recognised as a pious union in 1959, and she became known as "Sister Mary Garson". Her group later expanded overseas and adopted the Rule of St Benedict in 1978.

Biography Early life Garson was born on 3 October 1921 in Dedend in Udny Green, Aberdeenshire. She was the only daughter and the oldest of four children of the merchant seaman and later harbour master David Garson and his wife Jessie, née Anderson. Garson was brought up a Presbyterian. She was educated at Invergordon Academy, and later went on to graduate with a Master of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Aberdeen. and worked on the testing procedures for recruits into the Royal Air Force. and was presented with the award in a ceremony by Phyllida Stewart-Roberts, the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex on 15 December 2004. Garson retired as prioress-general in 2005. She died at St Joseph's Home, Albert Road, Bognor Regis, Sussex, on 8 March 2007. Following a requiem at Worth Abbey, Garson was buried at Holy Cross Priory in Heathfield, East Sussex, twenty days later.