Associate May Barisone

May Cooney Barisone was born and raised in San Francisco. She is the fourth of five daughters born in 1954 to Peter Cooney and Norma Rovai. May, along with all her sisters, went to The School of the Epiphany elementary school. That was her first introduction to the Sisters of the Presentation. Sister Michele O’Connell was her first grade teacher. May always had a fondness for the Sisters. After Epiphany she went on to Presentation High School in San Francisco where she was also educated by the Presentation Sisters. All of May’s relatives went to St. Paul’s High School but May chose Pres because her friends were going there. They have remained the best of friends.

May met her husband in her sophomore year and they married in 1976. They had a daughter in 1978 and a son in 1981. May worked outside of the home while she and Tom raised their family in San Bruno, California where they made wonderful and lifelong friends.

May Barisone with Sr. Rita Jovick

In 1988 May volunteered to help plan the 50-year anniversary of the opening of Epiphany School. This is when she met Sister Rita Jovick, who was the principal. May continued to work with Siter Rita on the alumni association for several years. During one of their meetings she mentioned to Rita that she felt she was missing something spiritually. It was then that Rita invited May to learn about the Presentation Associate Program. After a year of attending inquiry days learning more about the mission of the Sisters and their foundress, Nano Nagle, and attending social events with the Sisters and Associates, May became an Associate. That was in 1994.

May’s first ministry as an Associate was helping with an ESL class in Redwood City with Sister Mary Jane Floyd. May recalls being amazed at the stories of the women coming to the USA. She was deeply touched by their struggles and in awe of their courage. It really opened her eyes and her heart.

In 1996, May and her family relocated to El Dorado County as her husband’s employer, Shriner’s Hospital, closed their San Francisco facility and moved to Sacramento. It was a very difficult move. In 1998 May started a welcoming service as her community was growing quickly and she wanted to help the newcomers become better acquainted with their new community. She brought information about the local businesses as well as social and community services to the new residents. It was the favorite of all her jobs, as she loves talking with people and sharing her gift of hospitality. May greeted the new residents in her area for seven years.

May served on the Association Leadership team for many years. It was a two hour ride each way for the meetings, but she loved visiting with the Sisters and Associates and always worked in time to visit with her girlfriends and family. She especially enjoyed organizing the annual Associate Picnics, first at Presentation Center in Los Gatos and later at the Motherhouse in San Francisco with her dear friend and Associate Pilar, who she misses dearly.

May is often the hospitality person for Associate events as she thoroughly enjoys welcoming and feeding others. It took her many years to realize that hospitality is her ministry. She just thought it was something she loved to do.

May is currently the Associate “Sunshine Girl” which means she sends birthday, feast day and get well cards to all the Associates and Sisters. She truly enjoys making this connection on behalf of all the Associates. She also participates in the Associate Spiritual Book Group and the Companion Program, which help keep our less active Associates up to date with the program.

May believes that the most important thing she has learned from her association with the Sisters of the Presentation is the gift of awareness. By that she means being conscience of the world around her and the needs of others as well as the absolute beauty of creation in the littlest of things. May knows from this experience that the way she chooses to live her life on a daily basis does make a difference in making our world a better place. She has heard the motto, Non Vox sed Votum, Not Words but Deeds, since her first days at the School of the Epiphany. The Sisters and Associates have certainly showed her the many ways they have lived this out and how she can, too. She is very grateful for this opportunity to share in the charism of Nano Nagle and to continue to be a student of Presentation women.   

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