PORT Stephens has a direct link to the soon-to-be saint Mary MacKillop.
Raymond Terrrace resident Betty Windeyer is a direct descendant of Mother Mary McKillop who will be canonised at a Vatican ceremony in October.
"Mary was a first cousin of my great grandfather and I was a MacKillop before I married in 1945," Ms Windeyer said this week.
Last week Pope Benedict XVI announced Mary MacKillop would be canonised, the first Australian to ever receive sainthood. The decision came after a Newcastle woman recovered from lung and brain cancer after praying to Mother Mary at Lochinvar in 1993.
Her recovery was deemed a miracle by the Catholic Church.
"It is about time," Ms Windeyer's son Jack said of the decision.
The process to gain sainthood for Mother Mary has been an ongoing part of the Windeyer's life.
In 1995 the family travelled to Sydney for the beatification of Mother Mary.
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