Catholic Diocese of Spokane, Washington

From the

Official News Magazine of the Diocese of Spokane

(From the July 28, 2005 edition of the Inland Register)

Story and photo by Mitch Finley Inland Register staff

Deacon Peter Amah, a seminarian studying for the Diocese of Spokane, visits with Irene Memmer at her home. She recently converted to Catholicism, at the age of 96. (IR photo)

After some 85 years as an agnostic, Spokane resident Irene Memmer, who will turn 97 on Sept. 12, entered the Catholic Church on Wednesday, July 20, and became a member of St. Charles Parish.

Assisted by Deacon Peter Amah, Father Eugene Tracy, pastor of St. Charles, received the smiling lady into the church, administered the sacrament of Confirmation, gave her First Holy Communion, and to polish it all off, gave her the Sacrament of the Sick.

Memmer’s granddaughter, Diane Pietras, is a resident of Toronto, Ontario, who grew up in Seattle. She explained that her grandmother’s late son, Diane’s father, became a Catholic in the 1950s, when he married a Catholic. He died a year ago.

For many years, Irene Memmer did janitorial work in Spokane. “I am very happy to become a Catholic,” she said.