By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Sacred Hearts Sister Stephanie DeCosta Pavao, who introduced four decades of Sacred Hearts Academy students to the joys of the piano, died on July 6 at Malia O Ka Malu convent in Kaimuki. She was 85 and a religious sister for 66 years.

The piano composition “Falling Waters,” Spanish dolls, perfectly wrapped packages, busy fingers, a radiant smile. Those were the images of Sister Stephanie shared by Sister Helene Wood, provincial superior of the Sacred Hearts Sisters, in her eulogy on July 11 in the convent chapel.

“My first encounter with Sister Stephanie was at Sacred Hearts Academy in the music hall,” recalled Sister Helene. “I could hear her counting the beat for a student as I went for my own piano lessons. Later in high school, I remember her making lovely Spanish dolls that were sold at the Sacred Hearts Academy fair.”

“Then when I entered the congregation, Sister Stephanie taught me how to make beautiful bows as I helped her to wrap Christmas presents,” she said. “Always there was a smile, but sometimes a frown when you didn’t do it right!”

“So beautiful were the packages that you didn’t want to open the gift and spoil the wrapping!” Sister Helene said.

Sister Stephanie was born Rose Marie DeCosta Pavao to Maria and Antone DeCosta Pavao on Jan. 11, 1923. After graduating in 1941 from Farrington High School, she worked a short while at the pineapple cannery and on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor before entering the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on March 25, 1942.

On the occasion of her 50th anniversary as the sister, she recalled how, as a child, she told her mother that she wanted to be a nun.

“This was my mother’s wish, that one of her daughters would become a religious,” she said. “God works in mysterious ways, so at age 18 I began my novitiate at Sacred Hearts Convent in Nuuanu.”

Rose Marie made her first profession on April 16, 1944, taking the name Stephanie. She professed her perpetual vows on April 20, 1947.

As a nun she taught piano for more than 40 years. Her students included local entertainer Nohelani Cypriano and Honolulu Opera Company singer Pamela Maiava.

She later served in parish ministry at Sacred Heart Church in Waianae and then at St. Anthony Home in Kalihi where she distributed altar bread to parishes. She retired in 2001 to Malia O Ka Malu, where she continued to craft stuffed animals.

In 2004, on the 60th anniversary of her religious profession, she wrote, “Truly, I am full of joy and peace; but most of all I am deeply grateful to the Lord for my vocation in the service of the Sacred Hearts.”

Sister Stephanie’s funeral was July 11, at Malia O Ka Malu. She is buried at Hawaiian Memorial Park.

She is survived by her sister Elizabeth Proctor of Hilo and nieces and nephews.