To celebrate a Jubilee is a special, happy event. As a School Sister of St. Francis, I have had a very rewarding life. I've had a life full of memories and challenges, and there is more to do.
My years of ministry began at St. Peter Parish in Slinger, Wisconsin, for 11 years. There were seven or eight sisters to happily evangelize with at the church, convent, and school. I was assigned to teach grades two and three, and also grades three and four. There were 55 children in my classroom, with no teacher’s aide, which would be unheard of today. There also were three children with disabilities who I catechized and would walk home after their class.
In 1967, when our community asked for sisters to go to Honduras, I volunteered but I was assigned instead to St. Francis Solanus Indian Mission at Reserve on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation in the Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin. I am still here today, teaching multi-grade levels from Pre-K to second grade. A few years ago, having multiple grades in one room was considered an innovative, new idea for teachers, but it was nothing new for me, with 35 children in my classroom!
I love to teach. When I earned my master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin at Superior, I was asked to join their faculty so that I could teach teachers how to teach, especially the primary grades. But I chose to stay and teach the little ones at St. Francis Solanus School at Reserve.
Working and living on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation has brought so much into my life. One of the occasions that really surprised me was to receive my Indian name. My Ojibwe name given to me is “Manidos Gitijenikwe” which means “The Creator's Keeper of the Gardens.” I think I received that name because the Ojibwe people see me mowing the grass in the cemeteries and the mission grounds, and working the flower beds every year.
Above all, I love to pray!