Mary Ann Cannatella Raudales, Class of 1955

After graduating from St. Joseph’s Academy in 1955, Mary Ann Cannatella Raudales knew she wanted to contribute to the lives of others. She entered the workforce, setting aside money to eventually attend and graduate from Our Lady of the Lake School of Nursing.

She met a young engineer from Honduras, Marco Raudales, who was studying at Louisiana State University, and began her career as a delivery room and cardiac nurse. After a five-year courtship, the couple married. “I knew full well that when I said, ‘I do’ on January 6, 1962, it meant, ‘I do accept your country, your family, your language, your customs and your foods,’” Raudales said. “After 46 years of marriage, I would do it all over again.”

The company for whom Marco worked transferred him to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to build the main hospital in the Hato Rey Medical Center. Raudales worked during this time in the operating room at Gonzáles I. Martínez Oncological Hospital in Hato Rey and at the Presbyterian Hospital in Santurce. They soon returned to Honduras, where Raudales raised three sons and supported her husband as he started a business building roads in remote areas of Honduras.

While busy raising her children, Raudales found time to teach English at the Ann Stone Elementary School in Zamorano, Honduras, earning $30 a month. She worked in her church parish and enjoyed participating in community theater in San Pedro Sula, often starring in lead roles.
 
Today, Marco is the dealer principal for Caterpillar in Honduras. Marco Jr., 41, is a graduate of the Franciscan University and today serves as general manager of his father’s business. David, 39, and Daniel, 36, are graduates of The Citadel. David serves as finance manager, and Daniel is the agriculture and forestry sales manager for the family business. The Raudales have five grandchildren. Every Saturday, children and grandchildren gather at their home for a family meal.

Raudales has been extremely active in her community, serving CARE-MEDICO; Helping Hands; the Ruth Paz Foundation, which receives members of surgical teams who perform surgery on cleft lips and palates; Fundacion Eclesial, offering financial aid to her church; and the Agape Foundation, established by her family to pay for medical and surgical care for the poor or critically ill who are unable to wait for government-provided services. The foundation helps 30 to 40 patients each year.

“The idea first grew in my heart when my husband was in road construction, and we lived in many small country towns and saw poverty and death every day,” Raudales said. “A poor lady who lived very close to my house lost her 5-year-old daughter to gastroenteritis. A child died because her mother did not have $5 to buy a bottle of Diapec for diarrhea. I wanted to do something to change that.”

For 30 years, Raudales has been involved with the House of Prayer in San Pedro. Founded in 1979 by Sister Micaela Deloia, the House of Prayer is a three-year program in which women learn about their faith, establish a prayerful relationship with God and learn to serve in their respective parishes. Most participants then continue their spiritual growth in other groups, including Camino, in which couples evangelize other couples. Mary Ann and Marco have been members for 20 years.

Raudales credits her years at St. Joseph’s Academy and the influence of the Sisters of Saint Joseph for her formation. Among those who have been a blessing in her life were first grade teacher Sister Mary Lawrence, Sister Lydia Champagne and Sister Claire Germaine, SJA’s principal at the time. She fondly recalls Sisters Adele Lambert and Margaret Ann Maggio as “fellow kids in the neighborhood.”

While she considered entering the religious life during her sophomore and junior years at SJA, Raudales said she now realizes there are many ways to serve God. “I feel like I am doing this now in Honduras,” she said, “bringing others to love God in our Church; being very proud and honored to be a Catholic and teaching others to love and defend their Church; and by being an advocate for marriage and family life.

“The lessons I learned at St. Joseph’s Academy are lasting in my life, and so many times, I have found my small endeavors blessed by God’s graces.”

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