Sister Stories

Sister Donna Donovan

After the Salvation Army left Ottumwa in 2014, Sr. Donna and several volunteers organized a committee to continue the tradition of serving Thanksgiving dinner to the public. In their second year, they served 720 home deliveries and around 200 dine-in guests. Sr. Donna was quoted then, “We had lots and lots of people working behind the scenes...it’s a wonderful day of the legacy of truly thanks-giving.” Sr. Donna herself leaves a legacy as an outstanding teacher, community volunteer, and compassionate friend. I think she can be sure that her conviction that “a teacher’s job is to instill in young people the desire to learn” has borne fruit beyond measure.

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Sister Constance Pailliotet

The article has descriptions of special events held at the Agency and revealed how Sr. Connie had become part of families there. Of special significance were Connie’s efforts to enable students to know their Crow history and language. The bi-lingual program included aides and teachers who were fluent in Crow and could teach in that language and in English. In fact a former professor of Connie’s had linked her with a teacher from England who had a bi-lingual program for natives of Bangladesh. They had committed to sharing outcomes of their experiences.

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Sister Mary Charlene Olear

She began her 46 years of teaching at St. Anthony School in Des Moines followed by Sacred Heart School in West Des Moines; St. Theresa, Des Moines; Our Lady of Lourdes, Bettendorf; St. Alphonsus, Davenport; St. Joseph, Great Falls, MT; St. Mary, Centerville, IA; All Saints in Stuart, IA; St. Louis the King, Phoenix, AZ; Gehlen High School, LeMars, IA; Colo Community Public School in Colo, IA; and West Marshall High School, State Center, IA. After she retired from teaching in 1992, she cared for various elderly friends in Marshalltown who needed a driver, someone to visit them, call them, or pick up their groceries. She also sent birthday cards to dozens of people and an annual Christmas letter to many more.

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Sister Elizabeth Anne Schneider

Psalm 102 “So my soul sings songs to you unceasingly.” She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in music in 1949 from Marycrest College, her Master of Arts degree in music in 1950 from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and her PhD in higher education in 1970 from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. She continued music education at the University of Iowa, Michigan State University and the University of Minnesota. Psalm 102 “Oh my God I will thank you forever.” Sr. Elizabeth Anne’s ministry in music education took place in Davenport at St. Vincent as music teacher from 1953 – 1960 and at Marycrest College as a faculty member from 1953–1966.

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Sister Mary Ruth Morris

Just think of the miles covered from high school science classes in Iowa, Montana and Arizona; to medical records training and work in Omaha, Nebraska, Ottumwa, Iowa, and Normal, Illinois; to teaching in Ghana with the Peace Corps; to teaching GED and reading classes in Mississippi; to quilting in Davenport; and catching up with reading at Bishop Drumm. Think of all the “thank you’s” that have been offered and how many people have felt a warm glow because of them. Perhaps the best tribute we could offer to Sister Mary Ruth Morris would be our own effort to say “thank you” more often.

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Sister Kevin Bissell

Sr. Kevin said that at some time she taught every subject except commercial courses, music and modern languages. She did community development work among Eskimo communities in the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, and her organizing skills were applied to the design and implementation of large scale international research projects. Sr. Kevin had a wonderful sense of humor, often resulting in laughter from a table in the dining room. She was a voracious reader and watchdog of TV news. On occasion she shared her knowledge of political history with the congregation and through letters to the editor.

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Sister Ann Therese Collins

But perhaps even more a mirror of her life are these words from Mary Nolan, OP. "There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the sun. The early ages of life are filled with wonder and discovery. The later age of life is the time of integration. It is a time to bring together the totality of life’s experiences into a dazzling unity of joy and pain, failure and success, gain and loss, giving and receiving, achievement and struggle. All comes together in gratitude, gratitude for the whole adventure of one’s life.

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Sister Mary Janice McCann

Mother Teresa said, “Give your hands to serve and your heart to love.” As we look back on the life of Sister Jan, I think we can say with confidence that she did both very well. And so, we thank God for her even as we mourn her passing, pray for her and commend her soul to God.

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Sister Mary Ellen Freeman

We can easily find her quilt square in the large quilt at the bottom of the stairs. Look for the yellow square, with a “smiley face” in the second row from the bottom. Around it are blocks representing important aspects of her life: CHM community, family, prayer, service, and fun. Mary Ellen said she loved to laugh and thought she could make others laugh too.

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Sister Elizabeth Thoman

Sister Elizabeth’s life was remarkable because her horizons kept expanding, both personally and professionally, calling forth a plenitude of gifts.

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Sister Martha Mary Conrad

It was in Somerset, Kentucky, in the Lexington Diocese, that she felt the Holy Spirit calling her. She must have heard well as she stayed there for almost thirty-five years. While getting acquainted with St. Mildred’s parish there, she soon heard about the needs of the community. With the help of others, including churches, they founded St. Mildred’s Outreach of which she became the Director. The range of needs was great from utilities, to food, clothing, shelter, medications, even to advocating for clean community water supplies. Whenever needed, such as sudden loss of a job or of a home to fire, Sr. Marty’s service included counseling and spiritual support. She left behind “God’s Food Pantry”, a non-profit organization that serves the entire Pulaski county area, and the Outreach Center now managed by experienced volunteers.

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Sister Darlene Schwarte

At the time of her 50th jubilee as a Sister of Humility in 2006, she reported she had spent 26 years as a teacher’s aide and 26 years as a cook...In addition to her baking skills, Sister Darlene was a fine seamstress and produced needle-work pieces and other crafts for the holiday sales that were annual events at the Center for years.

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Sister Ursula Keough

Right after Vatican II we were teaching the children the newer ideas of theology and the more open way of operating in the Church. When they tried to explain it to their parents, it wasn’t making sense. It seemed like it was creating a division rather than having parents and children on the same track. So I began to feel it was important that we work more with the adults and then, in turn, help them work with their children.

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Sister Carolyn Walters

Sister Carolyn has left lasting records of her caring heart. In the late 1960s she established what may have been the first, or at least a very early, hotline for calls from persons in distress or, simply, from lonely individuals.

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Sister Corrine Foley

Sister was always gracious and patient. Her education ministry covered schools in four dioceses: Davenport, Des Moines, Great Falls/Billings and Phoenix. She taught in both elementary and high schools. She was at St. Anthony, Des Moines, three different times and always commented on how much she liked being there. In each case it was a group of imaginative students matched with an energetic teacher. During her last months at Bishop Drumm she would often have visits from former students. Politics and science were generally the topics of conversation.

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