Rosemarie Kolmer, Franciscan sister and former director of pastoral care at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, has died at 76
She was a nurse in the hospital emergency room but found her greatest contributions came from tending to the spiritual and practical needs of patients, families, and hospital colleagues.
Rosemarie Kolmer, 76, of Camden, Franciscan sister, nurse, health-care advocate, tireless volunteer for Sacred Heart Church, and former director of pastoral care at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, died Wednesday, Oct. 2, of cancer at the St. Elizabeth Motherhouse in Allegany, N.Y.
Sister Rosemarie entered the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany in 1966 and spent 35 years ministering at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden. She started as a nurse in the hospital emergency room but found her greatest contributions came from tending to the spiritual and practical needs of patients, families, and hospital colleagues.
So she became the first director of the hospital’s nascent pastoral care department in 1975 and expanded it from one chaplain to a staff of four, two of whom were women. She organized wellness retreats for hospital staff and successful fundraising events for community benefit programs.
She ran support groups of all kinds and arranged for a children’s visiting hour every Sunday morning at the hospital. She included priests, ministers, rabbis, and imams on her part-time staff. She personally prayed with patients and consoled grieving families.
“We have the opportunity to work with people at the most wonderful time in their lives,” she told The Inquirer in 1987. “That seems crazy, I know, but while they are extremely vulnerable, they are also extremely sensitive, and they wear no masks. … They don’t care what others think. They’re just going to put the story out there, and your hands receive their gift.”
She was organized and goal-oriented in everything she did, family and colleagues said, and she volunteered at food pantries and farmers markets. She helped residents get to work on time and pay their bills. She also managed the church’s chapel and created what she called the Tent of Abraham as a private space for patients of other faiths to use.
“She had a broad view that everyone should be welcome,” said friend and colleague Barbara Dever. “We are privileged to have known her.”
Later, she worked with wellness programs at Our Lady of Lourdes and in 2009 became an administrator and health-care advocate for retired priests at the Sacred Heart Residence in Cherry Hill. She took on added responsibilities at the residence when staffing was limited during the COVID-19 pandemic and earned the 2020 Sacred Heart Church Award for her advocacy and service in Camden.
“She gave of herself endlessly so that people could experience God’s love in their lives,” the Rev. Terry Odien said in a tribute. Friend Rick Malloy said: “Sister Rosemarie was the St. Francis of Camden, N.J.”
She worked closely with the Rev. Michael Doyle and others at Sacred Heart Parish, and the Rev. Vincent Guest, current pastor at Sacred Heart, called her “the heart of the parish” in a tribute. “Her heart and ministry were always with the poor and broken, for the sick, and for those in the City of Camden,” he said.
She slowed down to part-time work in 2020 and retired in 2024, and dozens of colleagues and friends gathered to see her off from Camden when she returned to the Motherhouse for hospice care in August.
“She squeezed every bit of life out of herself. Never stopped,” said longtime friend Linda Delengowski. “She really was a kind of street saint.”
Rosemarie Kolmer was born Feb. 19, 1948, in Rochester, N.Y. She graduated from Our Lady of Mercy School in Rochester, St. Clair’s Hospital School of Nursing, and St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor’s degree in professional arts and health care.
She joined the ER nursing staff at Our Lady of Lourdes in 1971 and studied pastoral care in seminaries in Philadelphia and Rochester. “She was a modern-day saint,” said her brother Mark. “She was someone I tried to emulate. She was always in everybody’s corner.”
In addition to her two brothers and three sisters, Sister Rosemarie is survived by other relatives.
A Funeral Mass was held Oct. 5 in New York. Memorial Masses are to be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at Sacred Heart Church, 1739 Ferry Ave., Camden, N.J. 08104; and noon, Tuesday, Nov. 26, at the chapel at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, 1600 Haddon Ave., Camden, N.J. 08103.
Donations in her name may be made to the Student Sponsorship Program, Sacred Heart School, 1739 Ferry Ave., Camden, N.J. 08104.