Her father was a lumberman and later worked for the railroad. Sister Victoria, born by Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help | Jun 10, 2021 | Franciscan Sisters News, Obituaries. Early in life, she had the desire to become a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration like her older sister, Sister Leone. She received a bachelors degree in business education with a minor in English from Viterbo College (University), then continued in the field of business at Mount St. Mary College in Milwaukee, College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota, Indiana University and Notre Dame University. 'Our most tragic time': Felician Sisters bear loss of 13 sisters to Born on October 12, 1930 in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, Frances Lorraine was the youngest of six children of Fredrick and Catharine Estella (Murphy) Yanisch. At the end of her junior year, she informed her parents that she felt called to religious life. From 2001 to 2009, while traveling back and forth to Cameroon, Sister Anita lived in the formation house of the congregation where, as she put it, she moved from a ministry of doing to the ministry of being. In 2009, she was invited to continue the ministry of being at Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center in Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin. She had waited a long time for this homecoming often asking what was taking the Lord so long. She learned to play the organ, violin and clarinet, but the organ was her favorite. She began her ministry as an elementary school music teacher in 1949: first in Spokane (St. Augustine), Wash. and then in La Crosse (Holy Trinity). In 2007, she moved to Villa St. Joseph, La Crosse, ministering as a volunteer to the community until 2019. Helping to connect people to faith. Pat attended St. Gabriels Grade School and St. Marys Academy both staffed by the Notre Dame Sisters. Realizing there were only 30 Consolata sisters left in the United States in the early 1990s, Sister Sandra began exploring American-founded Midwestern religious communities open to international missionary service. PDF 140 Years - Sisters of St. Francis - Sisters of St. Francis The Bernardine Center Times. She later returned to her baptismal name. Her life will be celebrated with a Mass of Resurrection Friday, September 23. Sr Susheela Sequeira, the superior general was the president of the chapter. I was into trouble almost constantly for skipping school, breaking rules and getting into things that were none of my business. It was not until her senior year that she gave her future a serious thought. After a one-year stint in the St. Rose Convent cafeteria, Sister Rita Marie moved to Villa St. Joseph where she assisted in many community service roles, such as receptionist, sacristan and organist. Mary Jane, her sister, Monica, and two brothers, Myllin and Mark, grew up in Eau Claire. During the annual three-day retreat of her senior year, she admitted to herself she was called to religious life. Sister Kathleen Theresa was born to Joseph and Antoinette (Blum) Kenkel on September 17, 1929, on the family farm in Earling, Iowa. From 1975 to 1979, she was principal at Marquette High School in West Point, Iowa. Sister Anita returned to California with her grandparents and stayed with them, beginning school there. Born on March 18, 1926, near St. Lucas, Iowa, Sister Joselda was the oldest daughter of Joseph and Catherine (Schmitt) Hageman. After her class of six boys and six girls graduated from the eighth grade, she spent the next year at home helping her parents. While with FSPA, Sister Sandra ministered to the elderly in St. Paul for a couple years before moving to La Crosse, where she became the Justice and Peace Director for the FSPA. In 2000, she moved to La Crosse where she was the assistant development director for FSPA until 2007. Sister Agnes loved growing up on a farm and being outdoors; her family grew vegetables and raised chickens to sell. Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Whether the need is for short- or long-term, our caring, trained personnel are here to help. After earning a bachelors degree in music education from Viterbo College (University), La Crosse, Sister Pat taught high school music for 21 years in Ashland (De Padua) and La Crosse (Aquinas) in Wisconsin and Carroll (Kuemper) in Iowa. She also enjoyed sharing her professional expertise through service on numerous boards, including Viterbo Universitys Board of Trustees. As a toddler, Marie would follow her mother around the kitchen and in the garden, picking berries, plums, grapes and whatever else was in season. Sister Jeremiah (Theresa) Collins, OSF January 27, 2022 Sister Jeremiah (Theresa) Collins embraced Sister death on January 27, 2022 at the Franciscan Villa in Syracuse, NY. She then attended St. Patricks High School, run by the Benedictine sisters. She began her ministry of teaching in elementary schools in Edgar and Boyd, Wisconsin and Spencer, Iowa, before moving into high school. She didnt let her physical infirmities bring her spirits down. They also remember her for her insightful questions and reflections, challenging others to think beyond the obvious and see the presence and action of God in our entire universe. There was always a twinkle in her eye and a story on her lips. Sister Donna served as an elementary teacher for 14 years in schools in Washington (St. Augustines, Spokane [1952-1955 and 1963-1964]) and Wisconsin (Sacred Heart, Ashland [1950-1952]), La Crosse (St. Wenceslaus [1956-1963] and Blessed Sacrament [1964-1965]). Her first profession of vows took place on August 12, 1952. Sister Rita attended her freshman year at Sacred Heart School, then transferred to Early Consolidated School for the rest of her high school years. SR. M. AQUILINA ACKER Sister Aquilina Acker, 87, a member of Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, died Monday evening, May 2, at Holy Family Convent, Manitowoc. Mother Joan invited her to join the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Aston, PASister Barbara Ann Beck (formerly Sister Francis Charles), OSF, 83, died in Assisi House on Monday, August 1, 2022. When the weather was favorable, they walked three miles home, but always rode to school with their father or one of their neighbors. Sister Geralyn Misura, 88, died Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022, at Villa St. Joseph, La Crosse, Wisconsin. Sister Patricia Keating, Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, 91, died of natural causes on July 24, 2020 at Villa St. Joseph, La Crosse, Wisconsin. During that time, her roommate responded to a call to religious life. She was the eldest of six children. Meet one of our Sisters responding to the needs of our community and the world. At another time, the house burned down and the family was split among relatives and friends until they acquired a new farm house a few miles away. Franciscan Sister Elaine Urbanek passes away December 27, 2022, at the age of 99 years. She enjoyed the Bright Star theatre and La Crosse Symphony performances at Viterbo University. She professed first vows on August 6, 1935. From 1958 to 1964 she served theFSPA community in the business office at St. Rose Convent. Family and community members remember Sister Pat for her quick Irish witalways with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. During this time, Sister Rosile supervised all lay employees and building projects. Upon her retirement, the executive director of David School, Danny Greene, summed up her impact, Sister Mary Myron has truly been a gift from God. Because of her keen eye, one could also count on Sister Patricia to know the latest on political issuesand to encourage prayer and political action. She was especially taken by his focus on care for creation; just last year she noted that she had reread and meditated on Franciss encyclical Laudato Si, several times. That is when she started to deeply listen to the many messages in life God had been giving her, ultimately calling her to religious life. will officiate and burial will be in the convent cemetery. Her work with young people was recognized by the Davenport Diocese, where she was invited to become the Diocesan Director of the Office of Religious Education and Youth Ministry, a position she held from 1981 to 1989. Her long-held desire to work with the disadvantaged then led to a position as a reading specialist in Maplewood, Minnesota and resource manager in Minneapolis. Helen again pushed the idea of a vocation out of her mind until December 1944 when she was assigned to the Sisters ward at the hospital. By then it was evident to her parents that her desire to be a sister had not diminished, but had grown stronger and they allowed her to enter St. Rose Convent in La Crosse, Wisconsinon August 15, 1940. Born on June 20, 1939, in Festina, Iowa, Joan Marie was the youngest of Nicholas and Rosalia Imoehl Hagemans 11 children. She ministered there until 2021 when she moved to St. Rose Convent in La Crosse. The last seven years, before her retirement to Villa St. Joseph in 2005, were spent in Hiawatha, Iowa, volunteering at Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center and at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, where she worked with senior citizens. She was received into the novitiate on August 12, 1946 and was given the name Sister Mary Peter. She made her first profession of vows on August 12, 1954. Marie was received into the novitiate on August 12, 1943, and given the name Sister Rita Marie. Sister Karolyne Henrietta was born on December 31, 1932, in Seaforth, Minnesota to Charles and Helen (Kolander) Rohlik. She had a quick wit and always had a come back for everything. In high school she was engaged in one-act plays and glee club. She loved her family and had made an extensive family tree. A second church, that could hold 500, was built in 1930. She made her home at Villa St. Joseph in 2013. RUTH JASINSKI OBITUARY Sister Ruth Jasinski, 94, of the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters Third Order Regular of St Francis, died on Monday morning, August 23, 2021, at Reading Hospital-Tower. Community members, family and friends remember Sister Evelyn as a lively, generous person. She made first profession of vows on August 12, 1952. From 1994 to 1998, Sister Joanne served as co-director of the FSPA Clare Retreat Center in Spokane. The Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Minnesota, is a Roman Catholic congregation of religious women of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi. In 1977, at the age of 38, he was received into the novitiate, made his simple profession one . After receiving a bachelors degree in Human Services at Grandview College in Des Moines, she went on to earn a Clinical Pastoral Education certificate at Mercy Hospital Medical Center in Des Moines. Sister Karolyne Rohlik, Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, 87 died of natural causes on May 17, 2020 at Villa St. Joseph, La Crosse, Wisconsin. After a year in support services in El Paso, Texas, she was called to serve as baker at St. Rose Convent. From there, she felt called to a new ministry, one that would challenge her inner strength and resilience. No grave photo. On August 12, 1954, she made her first profession of vows as a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. Soon there were three more children growing up on the small family farm in Big River. The first 26 years of her ministry were spent as a middle-grade and junior-high teacher. Entering the field of education, Sister Margaret served as a primary teacher for 27 years in schools in Iowa (Carroll [St. Joseph] and Roselle) and Wisconsin (Greenwood, Marathon, Dodgeville, Halder, La Crosse [Holy Cross and Blessed Sacrament], Odanah, Big River and Menomonie). She grew up in Guttenberg with her three brothers and two sisters, helping her father at the Kuempel & Lake Hardware Store. She then moved to Villa St. Joseph in 2012. The day after her 21st birthday she was in a serious car accident. February 19 Discerning Young Women: St. Clare and Eucharist Zoom February 17 Novice Experiences Michigan Mission Site February 27 During the seventh grade at St. Marys School in Auburndale, Sister Dorothy began hearing a faint call to religious life. After a two year renewal program at Little Falls, Minn., Sister Joan began her ministry as receptionist, gardener and decorator at Villa St. Joseph. St. Paul Elder Services has developed specialized programs and facilities that are specifically designed to enhance the lives of aging individuals. For the next five years, Sister Helen served as a staff nurse at St. Rose Convent Health Center. Community members, family and friends remember Sister Rosile as always having a smile for everyone. Eventually, Sister Lydia outgrew her do things differently attitude and two years later she, too, joined FSPA. She saw the bread loaf lovingly placed on the guests cabin tables as a way of sharing Eucharist. She and her older sisters walked to school and enjoyed the flowers and nature along the way. His grip weakened and she later spoke of this as her second baptism. Separate from the happy memories of growing up on the farm, there was the time a cyclone picked up the barn and flattened it. Elementary school years were spent at Kendall Public School. Subsequently, she left the classroom and served as dental assistant for 11 years in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was in the sixty-eighth year of her religious profession. She made profession of vows in 1950. Sister Cecilienne taught music in numerous elementary and secondary schools in Wisconsin at Blessed Sacrament School and Aquinas High School, La Crosse and elsewhere in Marathon and Ashland. From 1984 to 1989 she ministered to the elderly in Las Vegas and was instrumental in developing Pastoral Care Outreach at Sunrise Hospital. She professed her first vows as an FSPA on August 12, 1965. Florence Catherine was born on September 26, 1923, to Frank and Dorothy (Tritz) Goetz in Bellevue, Iowa. You have successfully removed Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Cemetery from your Photo Volunteer cemetery list. A representative of the Manitowoc Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity declined an interview with a Herald Times Reporter. In December of that year, she was brutally attacked and burned in an assault that occurred while she was at home in the convent. Later, she returned to her baptismal name. Franciscan Spirituality; Franciscan Charism Modules; Franciscan Charism Team; History; Land Ethic; Leadership Team; . In God's providential plan, these women . Sister Karolyne began her ministry as a homemaker at various congregational homes and institutions, primarily in Wisconsin and Washington, before branching out into other areas. Instead, she worked at Kaufer Catholic Bookstore in Spokane, then enrolled at Holy Names College (Fort Wright College) with a major in journalism and a minor in dramatics. Her gift of music was shared in many ways instrumentally, vocally and even to the point of creating enjoyable parodies for special occasions. Her creativity was expressed there in numerous ways, especially at times of the many holidays and feast days celebrated there as she decked the halls with flowers gleaned from the garden. She taught Spanish at Wayne State College in Nebraska for a year before transferring to Viterbo University in La Crosse as a Spanish instructor in 1985. Sister Betty Shakal, FSPA, 87, died May 3, 2021 at Villa St. Joseph, La Crosse, Wisconsin. She also taught in Blackfoot, Idaho and St. Paul, Iowa. She was head baker at Villa St. Joseph 1967 to 1976. Sisters of St. Francis When the FSPA congregation opened its spirituality centers, the facilities benefited from her excellent furniture upholstery work a hobby she continuedfor years. Sister Judith, a sister for 69 years, died February 14, 2018 at Mary, Queen and Mother Center in St. Louis. Angel, Ore. She accepted a volunteer position at the Eastern Washington Agency on Aging, wrote a grant for funding and was hired. She often talked about her wonderful five years in Guam, where she would say she learned more from her high school students than she probably taught them. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in English from Viterbo College (University) and an MS in Education from Xavier University in Cincinnati. Alleluia! While she spent 18 years in parish ministry, she would not be able to say she loved it more or less than her years teaching. She later went back to her baptismal name. On October 27, 2021, Sister Gale Bednarek, our resident Scripture scholar, left us for the fullness of Gods light and love. We remember Sister Therese Francis Waldowski, January 25, 1928 - March 2, 2022. Her early education was in a one-room school where the teachers husband brought wood to keep everyone warm in the winter. In all that we do, we seek to reveal the Kingdom of . This gave Sister Evelyn time to think if God might be calling her. In 1975, Sister Kathleen earned a second masters degree, this one in theology from Notre Dame University. The Hospital Sisters of St. Francis operated a convent and church on a 300-acre site northeast of Springfield from 1917 until 2021. . In her retirement years, she took every opportunity possible to get out into nature and take long walks. Born on Oct. 7, 1927 in Sparta, Wisconsin, to William and Alice (Senogles) Sheridan, Sister Patricia grew up in Kendall, Wisconsin where her father worked for the Sheridan Lumber Company. With a bachelors degree in education from Viterbo College (University) and a masters degree from Clark College in reading, Sister Rita was well-prepared for 39 years in the field of education. As Franciscans, we experience God's presence in all creatures, and we extend our care and concern for all our brothers and sisters in our common home. Read inspiring reflections from our sisters and keep up-to date . Sister Rita Jansen, Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, 94, died on Thursday, November 17, 2022 at Villa St. Joseph in La Crosse, Wisconsin. She continued there as a sacristan until 2015 when her health declined. She attended Holy Family Grade School and DePadua High School. During this time, she began taking classes part-time at Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis. Helen completed eight grades at St. Gabriels School, then attended St. Marys Academy in Prairie du Chien. She truly was a friend-raiser. She was living a good life, enjoying friends, family, nice clothes and her job, but was feeling an attraction to something else. Felician Sisters Cemetery. She was an avid stamp collector and accumulated a large stamp collection over the years. Her family then moved to Brookfield, Wisconsin where she attended St. John Vianney School. She ministered at St. Anthonys Hospital, Carroll, Iowa, Sacred Heart Hospital, Idaho Falls, Idaho, and was Medical and Surgical Instructor at St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing, La Crosse. For the next 11 years, she ministered as a volunteer and driver at Villa St. Joseph. She once commented that she thought she learned how to rip the same afternoon she learned how to sew. For recreation, Scrabble was her passion, along with a good card game now and then. 150th Anniversary of Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart Community members, family, colleagues and friends remember Sister Karolyne for her delicious baking and great love of the outdoors. bottom of page The twinkle in her eyes made one wonder what she was planning next. Sister Betty taught high school chemistry and mathematics for 26 years in Wisconsin (Prairie du Chien and Stevens Point), Oregon (Salem), Iowa (Bellevue, Carroll, and West Point) and Texas (El Paso). Obituaries Home News Obituaries. She entered St. Rose Convent in 1944 and professed vows in 1947. She loved her time and the people there and the people loved her. Jeanette Mary Margaret Kassmeyer was born in Fort Madison, Iowa, to Frank and Leona (Krittenbrink) Kassmeyer on March 11, 1936, the oldest of eight children. There will be a memorial Mass and celebration of Sisters life at a later date. In Memoriam - ssj-tosf Mike Lang, Dialog Reporter - 16 September 2020, 12:29 0 READING, Pa. Sister Laetitia Okoniewski, 101, a member of the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters Third Order Regular of St. Francis, died Sept. 15 at.