Quick Facts
Biography
Sister Mary Gabriel MBE (21 June 1904 – 29 February 1988), whose birth name was Muriel Marie Barron, was a New Zealand nun and pharmacist.
Background
Barron was born in Waihi in 1904 to George and Margaret Barron, she was educated at Waihi High School and Waihi School of Mines. She later apprenticed in pharmacy with her father. She was named a Member of the Pharmaceutical Society (MPS) in 1925.
Religious life
She joined the Sisters of Mercy in 1929 in Auckland and having previously studied music teaching. She took her religious vows three years later, taking the name Sister Mary Gabriel. She taught music at Otahuhu Convent from 1933 to 1937.
Pharmacist
She founded the pharmacy at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital (now Mercy Hospital) in 1937 and served as its primary pharmacist from 1937 to 1975, when she retired. During that time she was a foundation member of the NZ Hospital Pharmacist's Association and of Auckland Branch of Pharmaceutical Society. She was one of the first New Zealand pharmacists to be made a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society and the first New Zealand woman to be made a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society.
Death
She died on Leap Year's Day 1988, aged 83.
Affiliations/Honours
- Foundation Member, New Zealand Hospital Pharmacists's Association
- Member, Auckland Branch of the Pharmaceutical Society
- Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society in New Zealand
- In the 1975 New Year Honours, she was awarded the MBE for her "services to pharmacy"
