10 10 108 https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/87d8b833332e6c4a83e9788968a6e77a.jpg 1d8977aa3b176b7e67655d702c6e8d97 https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/d140e3b4f084702af30b4e9d2ffaa206.mp3 6a23fe3caa7c3f0b666594bb2cc5110b https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/0fe2253bfe2fe26e1bf1faf69c572d16.pdf da9b2fcbba3a7e9f6fc4a64cf94cc82d PDF Text Text SISTER MARY HELEN MCKENNA – ORAL HISTORY [Bracketed words, not names, are additions by the Sister upon review.] SVMF: Today is November 12, 2018, and I am here in Sister Mary Helen McKenna's room to begin her oral history, and I, Sister Victoria Marie Forde, would like her to start answering the questions [on our sheet], and the first question is: We have a lot of material, Sister Mary Helen, in the Archives, but is there material you would like us to add to your folder about your life? So if you have something. . . SMHM: Sure, I'd love to have some more because my life is long, and there are a lot of little quips and quirks and fun and jokes that I have that I probably could tell about, things that happened in the Community when I was there. SVMF: All right, do you want to begin? SMHM: Well, I think maybe I should begin with my wonderful parents. Both of which came from Ireland and met over here, and then they had a nice little bouncy baby girl in 1920. And I was that little girl. And life at that time was very, very deep in Depression. And so we had the beginning of it anyway. So there were things that we had to do in food and clothing, all kinds of things to help us get through that Depression, and I think with a little baby girl, pretty active, that was a problem for them. And their background enabled them, however, to live through anything. They were strong, strong Irish. And I'm finished with the Depression. SVMF: It sounds as if you had a hard time during the Depression , but your family, your parents, were so good about it that they got you through. So where did you go to school, Mary Helen, and meet the Sisters of Charity? SMHM: Well, I went St. Mary's School, Jackson, Michigan, and I had the most wonderful sisters: Sister Rose [McConville] in the first grade; Sister, oh gosh, she became a great English teacher. . . . SVMF: Is there someone who really influenced you to become a Sister of Charity? ©Sisters of Charity Archives 1 �SMHM: Well, as I went through the grades, we went to high school, and Sister Loyola [Ruede] was another member of my class, and we loved Sister [Helen] Regina [Kuss]. She was a commercial teacher, and in those days it was good to have shorthand and some of these other things, typing and all that as a background for a job, And we really loved Sister Regina. SVMF: And so after you graduated, though, did you enter right away? SMHM: Well, yes we did because of her influence I entered that August after I had graduated in June. So I think lots of people did that. But I was the last one in the band of the August people, September. And I entered September 10, a couple of days late because of my dad wanting to drive and take me down. But when I was at the supper table after I had left my parents, it was close to supper, and Sister Camilla [Smith] was at the head of the table, and they put me at the foot. And of course they tried to make it nice for me. It was kind of hard to leave your parents and your brother and so. . . SVMF: So you have a brother? SMHM: I have a brother, Jack McKenna. And so anyway, they had all kinds of things trying to get me to talk and say something. Well, finally I got my tears together, and I said, "Well, one thing I love to do is to play tennis." Now as I said that, the bell had rung a few minutes, few seconds before, and so all through the whole Community at supper they heard: "I love to play tennis." SVMF: Because the bell was for silence and to do the dishes! SMHM: That's right. SVMF: So they all knew you loved to play tennis. SMHM: And so really that was my first night then, and of course everything was strange. We lived in the attic. SVMF: The 5th floor SMHM: 5th floor ©Sisters of Charity Archives 2 �SVMF: Yes SMHM: And so there wasn't room for me with my band, so they put me with Sister Virginia Ann [Temple] and that nice tall Sister. Gee, I kind of forget her name, but anyway she was one of the ones from along the line of Alma, all these farm countries [S. Mary Edmund Bensman], and so she was my angel. SVMF: You were just in a dorm with her by yourself? SMHM: Yes, and Virginia Ann. SVMF: And Virginia Ann. SMHM: I promoted up before I even got here as a band, and so we had 18 in our band. SVMF: So was Loyola in your band? SMHM: She came in February. It was of course my band. SVMF: Sure. You were just there for the two years like most of us? Postulant and novice, and then what happened to you? Did you go to school? SMHM: I went to the Athenaeum. I was missioned to the Athenaeum, and it was a wonderful experience. We went, five of us, the big bus of the Mount, and we also went in a beautiful car sometimes. And we had the most wonderful experience with Sister . . . . SVMF: At the Athenaeum some Sister? SMHM: At the Athenaeum SVMF: Was it a Sister of Charity? SMHM: Henrietta [Sister of Mercy] was one, and she was a great friend of the Sister I'm having trouble with the name. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 3 �SVMF: We might be able to find it later and put it in. So you went to the Athenaeum for two years maybe? SMHM: Yes. SVMF: And then what happened? SMHM: I was missioned to St. Mary's, Hyde Park, and this was how I went to my mission. Sister Grace Miriam [McCarthy] came from St. Mary's, Hyde Park, by bus, picked me up with my two little satchels, and we walked back to the bus, and we transferred someplace in Cincinnati, and then we went to St. Mary's, Hyde Park. There were 35 sisters there. SVMF: Because there was a grade school and a high school. SMHM: That's right. SVMF: And what grade were you teaching? SMHM: I was teaching, I began with grade 4, and I had geniuses in my class. SVMF: Oh, so you loved teaching? SMHM: Oh my, they were jumping out of their seats, and of course being from the Athenaeum I caught on years later. I had so many visitors, they would just come, pop in. SVMF: They were observers, really. SMHM: And I was being observed all this time. Well, then two years I was in fourth grade. And then someone moved, and I went to the sixth grade. Well, didn't I have the same jumping jacks again! And oh, but it was always good. We could take the liner, the music liner and run it down the chalkboard, and I'm using modern language now. We used to call it a blackboard. But anyway, we ran it down, and they could go up and put their poems that that they had made on the lines of that, and then the kids could sing it. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 4 �SVMF: Oh my, that's marvelous. SMHM: I had some tremendous people. SVMF: You did, you did. SMHM: One of them was the head of the liturgy here in Cincinnati. SVMF: Oh, my. SMHM: Giles Pater, P-A-T-E-R. And also, I had the Marist in Dayton, Brockmeyer, and honestly they were terrific. That Brockmeyer memorized in the fourth grade. He said, "Sister, I know some of the Inferno. SVMF: All right, Sister Mary Helen, we're going to straighten this up a little bit. The child who memorized the poem was Brockmeyer, and he memorized Dante's Inferno, part of it. SMHM: And he was so good that I sent him over to the high school to Sister Daniel Miriam's class, and she, oh my gosh, the kids couldn't get over it, and he was a skinny little guy and just darling, and I thought, but later he became the head of the Marists in Dayton. SVMF: From Saint Mary's, Hyde Park, you went to Saint Leo's. SMHM: Yes, Detroit. SVMF: And from Saint Leo's, Detroit, then you went to Royal Oak, the high school. SMHM: That's right. SVMF: Do you want to tell us anything about that? SMHM: I want to tell you one funny thing. There was one Sister and you can find the name probably, and she was a French teacher. And oh, she talked just like this, you know, and the French thing. And they sent me up, when I went there, ©Sisters of Charity Archives 5 �they sent me up with her to be alone in the house there, that Father Coughlin had appointed for the Sisters' convent. SVMF: The two of you were alone in the convent? SMHM: The two of us, and one day she came, she was on the second floor and I was on the first floor, and she came to me, "Oh, Sister, there's some man in my room." I said, "Oh, my gosh, Constantia, that's her name, I'll get this window pole." And so we went up, quietly up her stairs, and she said, "Oh, my heart, my heart," she said, and you could hear it, and it sounded like he was snoring. And I thought, well, . . . SMHM: My gosh, this is something. So we got to the top, and guess what it was? SVMF: What? SMHM: Her fan! Her fan was going back and forth, back and forth, but oh, my gosh, all I could think all this time was "Here I just got here, I'm in high school, and I've got this French teacher, and here she is telling me, 'There's a man in the room.'" And I didn't know where the phone was, I didn't know anything, and anyway we laughed about it later. SVMF: But from there you went to Queen of Martyrs then, and now you're already a principal. SMHM: Yea, a pretty young one. SVMF: A very young one. SMHM: Anyway, I went from Saint Mary's, I was there two years, they were pushing it, so I would have had some acquaintance with Father Coughlin. I didn't have an acquaintance with him, but at least he knew that I was teaching there and all of that. SVMF: So then they made you a principal. Did you have a background for that? ©Sisters of Charity Archives 6 �SMHM: I had to study while I was there. We had to buy books. We had to do everything. And Father Hebert was the pastor, and he was very particular, and I admired him a lot. He wanted the very best. Now Birmingham at that time was a very wealthy area. It was beyond Royal Oak, so there were a lot of wealthy people there. And he had for each classroom a wood carving of the Blessed Mother, as we have or used to have in our halls. It was 24 inches high, I would imagine. And every teacher could pick out whichever title of the Blessed Mother she wanted. And the school was beautiful. Really, everything he did he was fastidious. SVMF: Was this a brand new school? SMHM: Oh, brand new, nobody was ever there. SVMF: Oh, Queen of Martyrs was brand new. SMHM: I was the first person there, and we had several, four Sisters, Mary Bridget [Lydon} was one. Ruth Bockenstette [Bernard Mary] was another, and the third one was Mary Jerome Cremering. And then also to keep me in tow we had Mary Aiden, an older Sister, quite old, had been a principal all her life, I think. Anyway, I think she was supposed to be the guardian angel of all of us. SVMF: Did she teach there? SMHM: No, she was a house Sister. She was too old, really. SVMF: So you're there for two years, is that right? No, '54 to '59 you're there. SMHM: I was there five years. SVMF: Five years, that's right. Then you're sent to St. Albert the Great. SMHM: That's right, but at Albert the Great I was just there, I was a teacher there. SVMF: But you were in junior high? SMHM: I was in junior high teaching, yes. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 7 �SVMF: How did you feel about that, going from principal to junior high? SMHM: Well, I think that was the way we did it in those days. You were a principal six years less or more, and then you went back into teaching. SVMF: I see, yes. SMHM: I remember that marvelous, marvelous idea. No one got a big head at all. SVMF: So you're at St. Albert's and you're teaching there for a while and just a couple of years there, right? SMHM: I think I was there one or two years. SVMF: '59 to' 61, so just two years, and then they're sending you to Saint Leo's, Detroit, and here it says," server, community, diocesan, elementary." What does that all mean at Saint Leo's? SMHM: I was a supervisor. SVMF: Oh, a supervisor, that's what you were.. SMHM: I left Alberts, and they sent me to be a diocesan supervisor in Detroit. And Father Haken, Monsignor Haken was the head of it, and I was joined by Sisters from the IHM. And we all met frequently, I think every two weeks , and we had to give reports of what we did and what we saw and what suggestions we had, and so I really enjoyed that because I learned so much, and those IHMs are really school people. SVMF: Are they? SMHM: They really are, the Detroit group, anyway. SVMF: And you're living at St. Leo's, downtown. SMHM: I live at St. Leo's. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 8 �SVMF: Among the poor. SMHM: We didn't have cars in those days. SVMF: No. SMHM: So we went every place, if I had a meeting downtown with the group I went by bus. I met every single Sister of Charity from all the diocese. Now at that time the Detroit diocese was huge. Then they finally made a Lansing diocese. `But that came after my day. SVMF: So when you were there you had this huge diocese that you had to supervise? SMHM: I had to supervise. SVMF: This was the elementary? SMHM: All elementary, yes. SVMF: Oh, my heavens, what a job! SMHM: Well, I mean elementary schools. I don't mean all elementary. But anyway, so that was a tremendous experience, and one time they had a panel, and they picked the teachers for it on the TV. We were on TV. I was one of them, and we each had to say what we were doing and what we thought about education. SVMF: Good heavens! SMHM: And it was wonderful because TV. wasn't out very long. And so we all felt kind of good about that. And all the Sisters, now at this time it was the Sisters at the Shrine. I don't know how this happened. SVMF: Well, you're at St. Leo's, aren't you here? ©Sisters of Charity Archives 9 �SMHM: I went out of St. Leo's; well I guess I was there supervising some of the things. SVMF: And then you went to St. Charles, Kettering, as principal. SMHM: But I want to tell you that the Sisters at that Shrine were so humble. I think I want to go back to that. They were so humble, so beautiful, and we had Mother Coughlin at that time. And she lived in the garage behind the Sisters' convent. And we had to take turns, we didn't have to, we volunteered to take turns to sit with Mother Coughlin. Father Coughlin loved his mother so much that he could not put her in a nursing home. So he built that garage, and some of the Sisters were up above, and Eugene [Fox] was one of them, and oh, the name is almost on my lips. But anyway there were four bedrooms up above this garage, and the one who sat with Mother Coughlin, and she wouldn't go to bed until about 12:00 at night. She loved wrestling. SVMF: Oh, my. SMHM: Oh my gosh, and here I was a poor little me, I'm back at Royal Oak, and poor little me trying to correct my papers and everything, and if she saw out of the corner of her eye that you were correcting papers, oh, she'd hit them, and she'd want you to watch that thing with her. SVMF: Oh, my. SMHM: And then we'd push the piano, she had a baby grand. Every night we'd push it over to the front door, and every night we'd put her to bed, and then sometimes she'd wake up, and she'd say, "William Henry, she did this, that William Henry." And that was Henry Miriam. SVMF: Oh, my. SMHM: But she didn't like her. So Henry Miriam got out of that job. SVMF: Was the piano at the door so that no one would come in? ©Sisters of Charity Archives 10 �SMHM: That's right, see, and in our room, we had a room not quite next to hers at all, but down. And when she would get into a tantrum like that, she would come to your door. Well, see, we had another door, and we would ring a bell, and someone from upstairs would come down and help us. SVMF: Oh, my, oh, what an experience, my heavens. SMHM: It was because she was not all herself. SVMF: Sure, so shall we go on to St. Charles, Kettering? You're a principal now. SMHM: St. Charles, Kettering is after something or other. SVMF: After you were the diocesan supervisor. SMHM: Oh, that's right, I went there. SVMF: Yes, but now you're a principal. SMHM: And so we bought books and we did everything. These were very, very intelligent people and very rich. And they were very nice and polite and everything. SVMF: You're the principal there. SMHM: Yes. SVMF: At St. Charles, the elementary. SMHM: I opened St. Charles. SVMF: Oh, you opened it, oh my heavens. SMHM: Yes, I opened St. Charles, and I opened Birmingham. I also bought books and things when I was a supervisor for St. Mary's in Port Huron. You had to do all those little things. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 11 �SVMF: We'll put that all in. You'll hear it, so you'll see. After St. Charles then you go to St. Luke's, Detroit. SMHM: Yes, that was my respite, see. You didn't stay as a principal, you had six years. SVMF: Six years, now this is two years at St. Luke's, now? SMHM: Yes, I taught at St. Luke's, Detroit for a couple of years. And there was a very precocious principal. She had done work downtown in reading. SVMF: In Detroit? SMHM: Yes, this is St. Luke's, Detroit, but I think she might have been in Cincinnati. SVMF: Oh, all right. SMHM: She was a famous reading expert. SVMF: What I'll do is I'll go to the Archives and find out who was the reading expert in Cincinnati at that time, and I think we can fill in these times. SMHM: And I think for a while Bobbie was with her. SVMF: Bobbie Good. SMHM: Bobbie Good. SVMF: Maybe she could help us too. SMHM: I don't think they got along. I think that's what happened. So, we'd better leave it. SVMF: The next is Elizabeth Seton, South Holland, High School Religion. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 12 �SMHM: Yes, I went to the University of Detroit, and I was finishing there, and I sat next to this wonderful Sister, just a beautiful Sister, who was at Shrine High School. And we were in the same Theology class. I had to make up a Theology class to get to go to South Holland. SVMF: Yes, because it says High School Religion, that's what you did at South Holland. SMHM: I know it. But see I needed… SVMF: Yes, I mean that's why you needed. . . . SMHM: I needed refreshing courses in Theology to be able to do that. And so I went to University of Detroit during the summer. And there I met Ann Seubert. So Ann Seubert was a charming person. SVMF: Oh, yes. SMHM: And she said, "Sister," she shared with me, and that was something she didn't usually do with people. And she said, "Sister, I'm having a hard time at Shrine. I wish I could go someplace else." And I said, "Oh, Ann, I know just the place. You go to South Holland, I'm going there, and you can come right along. But you'd better get that principal to. . . " You know you had to make a bid, and see if there was room. And she taught Religion too. We shared then after school. It was so pleasant, and there was a young man there, brilliant, he was a Ph.D. And he taught the tenth grade. And he came in, and he liked both of us. And he said, "One day, Sisters, you think I'm a Catholic, my whole family is. I'm one of ten children . But I have my Ph.D., and I have it in Religion, but I no longer believe, Sister. " And I said, "Well, then how are you teaching this tenth grade?" And he said, "Sister, I went through all the books, and all it is is Social Studies." And he said, "So I told Sister that I could take the job." Well, to make a long story short, he was with us very often after school. He cleaned our boards. He was just a perfect gentleman. But the thing was after we left there, Ann Seubert and I, and Sister [Ruth] Dolores [Schneider], well, we got this bug about going out and being with the people and sharing our Faith and ©Sisters of Charity Archives 13 �doing this and that. And, my gosh, the three of us decided that we would go and be Parish Ministers and that we'd take Adult Education, also. SVMF: That’s when you went to Florence. SMHM: I went to Florence. Florence is where we went. SVMF: St. Benedict's. SMHM: And they had trailers, and we went to the people and did all kinds of things…. SVMF: Today is November 13, 2018, and I, Sister Victoria Marie Forde, am back in Sister Mary Helen McKenna's room in Mother Margaret, and Sister would like to add a few things that were very important. Sister Mary Helen, you wanted to talk to us about Father Coughlin's mother. SMHM: Now Father Coughlin loved his mother dearly. He did not want to put her in a nursing home. So Sister William Mary [O'Connor] and Sister Henry Miriam [Miller] assured him that the Sisters would take care of her. So everybody was asked if they would sit in the evening from 5:00 on until the next morning with Mrs. Coughlin, who really had some problems with her mind. SVMF: Did she live in a special place? SMHM: Oh, yes. Father built a lovely garage for the Sisters to use down the road on one side. And the top part had lovely rooms for the Sisters, who would not sit with Mother, but would come to help anyone who was having a problem with Mother downstairs. And then there was a special button that we pushed if we needed help. SVMF: Those are the Sisters who live on the same floor as Mrs. Coughlin? SMHM: No, just you, the person with her and herself, that's all. And so you took care of everything, and of course she hadn't eaten because this was after 5:00. Well, anyway, the thing goes this way. If you needed help, and many a time you needed help, because she might come after you! I'm joking. But anyway so we ©Sisters of Charity Archives 14 �pressed the button, and down came Sister Philomena [Marie Funni] or Sister Eugene [Fox], and I forget really who the third one was. SVMF: You said that you were trying to correct papers, and she liked to watch wrestling on TV. SMHM: Yes, and during the evening she'd turn on the TV, and it was wrestling. She loved wrestling. And you'd be sitting on the couch there with her and you'd be trying to be correcting your papers and that was my first year in high school, and I thought, "My gosh, I don't think I'm going to get all these done" because she'd interrupt; she'd look out of the corner of her eye, and if you were doing papers she wanted you to watch the wrestling. SVMF: Then you also said that she wanted the baby grand piano pushed against the door. SMHM: Oh, she had a beautiful baby grand piano, and at night she and you would push the piano over to the front door, so that no one would come in. So the Sister really was locked in, and that's why in her bedroom there was this button you could push. And of course it was needed many a time, and you just had to leave Mother alone then. She didn't like Henry Miriam, and she was the one that got all this going. She didn't like her because Henry Miriam was a little bossy. And she tried to clean up her bed and fix her drawers and, oh, she didn't like that at all. These were personal to her. Well anyway, whenever she got mad at any Sister that was with her and got very upset, she'd call her Henry Miriam, she'd call her Miriam Henry and we'd all knew or it would be William Mary. She'd call her name out, whenever she didn't like what was going on. And it was not really to be made fun of, but it was a serious thing, and the Sisters really were generous in giving their time to take care of her. SVMF: The other thing that you said you wanted to include and go back a little bit to was the Athenaeum and especially Sister Generosa [Quinn]. SMHM: Oh, Sister Generosa! Sister Generosa, that name should be remembered by every Sister of Charity from then until beyond whatever the end comes. She was a marvelous teacher, and I'd like to say that anything that I did good in teaching was all part of my experience with Sister Generosa. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 15 �SVMF: I've heard wonderful things about her too. I was too late to get her when I went to the Athenaeum, but she still had a wonderful reputation. What did she teach? SMHM: She taught, I think it was, Psychology. I think that's what she taught. And she was a great friend of Sister Henrietta, a Mercy who was a real to notch teacher in Math. We all had Math from her, and we had Sister Generosa. I mentioned what she taught. And then we had another marvelous teacher, Father Kaeneke. Now Father Kaeneke wouldn’t be a master as a teacher. He sat at his desk, and he poured forth all kinds of knowledge and philosophy, the Sacraments, we had those from him. We had everything the Church from him. We had all our Religion programs from him, and the best of all was his Psychology. His teaching of that, he was a marvelous teacher, but every Sister or priest that went to the Athenaeum when they came to testing time, you had to say if you left out the letter "a" that would mean something different, and you would not get a very good mark. He'd check that answer off. SVMF: I told you that the fun thing that we had from Father Kaeneke years later was that funny saying that, "She who does not toot her own horn, that horn remaineth untooteth." And we always laughed about that. Well, Sister Mary Helen, how about. . .? SMHM: Can I say one thing about Armin Cooper? SVMF: Oh, sure. SMHM: Armin Cooper was in my band, and we were at the Athenaeum , and she in my mind was the smartest woman in the Community. Well, Father Konecke tested all of us with this question, he said, "What was the greatest miracle of all time?" Now, Victoria, I don't know if you had that question. SVMF: No. SMHM: All right. Well, the priests would say, "Oh, the Mass"; we'd give all kinds of answers. And no, no, no, no, but Armin, who was so humble, put her hand up just a little bit, and of course he called on her, and she said, "The Church." Now I have ©Sisters of Charity Archives 16 �said that, repeated her answer was to his question many, many times, and if you really think about everything and think deeply, these other things all come with the Church, and the Church itself is God's work on earth. Jesus is the head of the Church. And he nearly, I think he always used that question just to get people thinking, "Well, you're not so smart." But he nearly fell off the chair that she said that because he had never had the right answer. (Excerpt omitted: Sister Mary Helen discusses a parish ministry in Florence, Colorado)…. SMHM: We had wonderful success with the people. SVMF: Oh, wonderful. SMHM: They were Hispanic, and they were so beautiful. And really the charismatic movement, they gained it from us. However, the three of us were really at it, you know, as charismatics. SVMF: Yes. SMHM: But we had prayer meetings, and oh, gosh, they prayed, and I thought to myself, in God's eyes I haven't been praying, you know? They were just so beautiful, and we were very successful. We went to all the trailer courts, and we weren't successful in conversions, though, but we were successful in being nice to the people and the people welcoming us. SVMF: Sister Ruth Bockenstette said she went down for some of your prayer meetings. About three times, she said. SMHM: Would she agree to what I said? SVMF: Oh, definitely, yes. So what happens, you finally leave there? You're only there for one year, right? SMHM: Yes. SVMF: And then you move on to St. Mary's. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 17 �SMHM: Well, Sister Ruth Dolores had already been at St. Mary's, and so they welcomed me as an addition. And in that way I saw all the beauty of the West, you know. We were able to drive the car up to Denver. We went to meetings up there, and we saw Santa Fe and knew the history of it. SVMF: But that's you and Sister Ruth Dolores. Sister Christopher[Ann Seubert]? SMHM: Sister Ann Seubert was in Pueblo and worked there among the people. She really was a good friend of the Bishop. SVMF: She didn't stay in that house? SMHM: She wasn't, but she became a good friend of the Bishop. SVMF: Did she stay in that house? SMHM: Oh, no, no, she went to Pueblo itself, not Florence. She didn't stay in Florence, she went to Pueblo. SVMF: Okay, and you two went to St. Mary's. SMHM: And we went to St. Mary's [Albuquerque] because Sister Dolores had been there, and I hadn't been any place, so I went there. SVMF: Were you teaching English there in junior high. SMHM: Yes, it was the ninth grade. They only went to the ninth grade. And, oh I met, Carita, am I saying the name right? She was Hispanic but she wouldn't say Hispanic, she wanted to be Castilian. SVMF: Sarita, Sister Sarita? SMHM: Sarita, that's who I'm talking about. She was a partner to me in the school. I taught English and Religion, and I don't know what else. I didn't teach Math, that's for sure. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 18 �SVMF: You were there for one year, and then you moved to Christ the King in Pueblo as a Pastoral Coordinator. SMHM: Sister Martha [Farlow] was at Christ the King in Pueblo. And they were quite wealthy people. They were just below the university. And they were very upset with the Bishop at that time because-- I forget his name. I don't forget it but I can't remember it right this minute. And, anyway, he had just closed all the schools in Pueblo, every school. Now he was a convert to the Faith, and that could have been somewhat of his thinking, you know. Anyway, he closed every school in Pueblo. So Sister Martha was working as we were working, but she was up at the University [of New Mexico] area. And she came down to Pueblo and asked if we would, you know, come and help her out because she needed help. There were so many kids, and it had been for a while that he had closed all those schools, and they didn't know their Religion. And Martha was a very marvelous teacher, really, and so we went up there, and Ann Seubert was up there, so she asked if she could again live with us. And so she lived with us in the house that was given us, and we taught at the place. SVMF: It says here that you were Pastoral Coordinator, Religious Education teacher and . . . SMHM: That's right. And my big thing was curriculum, so I did that, and of course you had to type up the lessons. You had to do all that. And they were both very high up in Theology. So we had these University people that were very wealthy. They were furious with the Bishop. They had just built a school, can you imagine it? And they were furious, but they brought them down for CCD, and Sister Ruth Dolores took all the high school kids, and I took all, not all, I took a certain portion of the grade school and so did. . . . SVMF: Ann? SMHM: No, no not Ann Seubert. Ann Seubert worked for the Bishop in the city, the Bishops's work, but she lived with us, see. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 19 �SVMF: You were there for two years, and then it says you went to Sacred Heart School in Colorado Springs. SMHM: Yes, we were there for two years. We had the pastor who is in all kinds of education. Especially when you're teaching just Religion, you know, you're part of the same new wrinkle. The pastor, we had a hard time, so we left and went to Pauline Memorial [Colorado Springs]. They were so happy to have us. We went to Sacred Heart first. And then we went to Pauline Memorial, and from Pauline Memorial I returned back to my home. SVMF: Right here at the College. SMHM: Here at Mount Saint Joseph. SVMF: And so you taught at the college, Early Childhood Education for one year? SMHM: I did that in the summer time. I didn't teach at the College; I don't remember, maybe I did. Is it down there? SVMF: It says that you went from August 20, 1978, to June of 1979. So that looks like one year at the college, Early Childhood. SMHM: Oh, I know; it was the Campus School. SVMF: Oh, the Campus School, oh, that's wonderful. SMHM: Sister Marilyn Joseph [Czarnecki] was the principal, and it was an experimental school. Oh, man, was it updated, and it was wonderful. And I got to make the room that I was teaching in, I got to put the sun in it, painting , the whole wall was painted with sunshine, did you see it? SVMF: Yes, I did. And the halls were always full of light. SMHM: And Sister had a big, big bear at the door. Well, Sister was very, very wonderful as principal of these experimental things that went on there. Sister Marilyn Joseph was an excellent, excellent teacher, but she was also an excellent ©Sisters of Charity Archives 20 �principal, and they had marvelous teachers that loved to experiment. Now that's what that meant. That was the College's experimental school. SVMF: And then it says you went to St. William's from there for quite a while. SMHM: Oh, I wanted my last years in education with at least the neglected or the poor or maybe becoming or the school rundown. Now St. Williams was not run down. Oh, my gosh, it hit me in the head. The thing is Lower Price Hill was beginning to infiltrate, so it really was a city school. It was close to the city, and I taught there, I think five years. SVMF: 1979 to 1984, you're right. And then you went to St. Boniface. SMHM: That's when I really wanted to be in the inner city schools. And, oh there was a wonderful, wonderful principal there, Joanne Geis. Oh my gosh, she was good. And she was wonderful. She checked on the teachers. The teachers were excellent not because they were excellent maybe when they got there, but they were surely excellent after they had been there. And she checked everything, and what I liked about that for the inner city school and really for all education at the elementary level it should be no different than at the high school level. We should have beautiful plays. We should have beautiful,. . . Everything should be based on Thomas Aquinas's "Search for the truth, love the beauty, love beauty, all beauty, and the last one, goodness." Always appreciate goodness no matter where it's at, the furniture or whatever or the person, especially the person. Now those three things at every school that I was in I used that on the stationary at the very bottom of the stationary sheet. SVMF: How good. SMHM: "We excel in directing ourselves toward truth, beauty and goodness." SVMF: Oh, my. You can't get better than that. SMHM: And that is not for college, that is for first grade. And every class should have all the things that pertain to those three levels. And each person, each teacher should try to have those within their own lives because as Thomas said, those make you truly human. Try to develop those things. But see it brings it to ©Sisters of Charity Archives 21 �schools that you have plays. You have little plays in the classroom. You have kids stand up and try to make a play all on its own. You see and get partners to help and put on a little show. You know, we used to do that in our neighborhood. SVMF: We did too in the garage. SMHM: That's right. Now in our neighborhood one of the men was a carpenter. Now I lived in the Depression era. But this man was a carpenter and had pretty good people coming to him. But he built a doll house but it was big enough that we could stand up in it, and three or four people could be in it. And so what we did, the girl's name was Harriet, and she was my friend. She lived across the street and they were wonderful nonCatholics. They were Episcopalian. Not that, they were Presbyterians. But, anyway, we would put on plays and invite the neighborhood, and they had to bring pennies to come to our play. And I'll never forget we got people from outside too. We got my friend from school, Regina Miller and a Helen Daly. These were from school. See, we went out beyond our own little neighborhood, and she had people, and we would make the play up. That's the big thing. And we would tell them their parts, or we would sit down some day and write down the parts for them. But the funny part was, this was about a king, and Helen Daly was kind of a big person, so she [was king], and Regina Miller was sort of slender and thin, and Regina Miller took the part of King, not Helen Daly. And of course we had an audience out there. But Helen Daly got so mad she pulled the rug out from under poor Regina, and she hit her head against the wall. Then we tried to make that part of the play. SVMF: Oh dear! Yes, that’s how we did. SMHM: You did plays too. SVMF: Oh, absolutely. Rright in our garage, and we have pictures of us all dressed up. SMHM: That's for creativity right there in your back yard. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 22 �SVMF: Now, that's so true. Now from St. Boniface it says here that you went to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in the teaching program, "Church Life." That needs explanation. SMHM: I taught. When they accept you there at the hospital, the Children's Hospital, you see that was my final place, my final hurrah. I went there because I really, this is kind of. . . . I was going into my fiftieth or something. I was going into the fiftieth, and I didn't want a big fuss at St. Boniface, so I stopped, and I went to Children's Hospital. And that was the reason. But I was long enough there, and I contributed, and we put on a big, big play. SVMF: What does Church Life mean? It says you were there, Children's Hospital Teaching Program Church Life at the Hospital. It says here you were at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and your job title was in the Teaching Program, Church Life. Church Life, I just wondered what that was. SMHM: That's a lay place, I mean that's not a Catholic place. I didn't teach any Church. . . . SVMF: They have mistakes here, so that must be a mistake. They have more than one. SMHM: Please correct that. SVMF: I will. SMHM: What I did there. . . . When you go to Children's at least at that time… SVMF: 87-95, that's a long time. SMHM: Eight years I think. Anyway, you teach anything. You are supposed to be able to teach anything from Grade 1 through Grade 12. See, the kids bring their own books. Now I didn't teach first grade, but I did teach kids that had this, I don't know what they called the temporary thing there. . . . They were trying to get them trained down. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 23 �I did teach a second grader there. But then I did teach some sick little children. I really don't know what grade they were in. But they were at least sixth or fourth grade, you know. But then I also taught them. . . . After I was there awhile, I was sent to the Oncology unit and that was the saddest thing, heartbreaking. It was really something. It made me so aware. They would come with their books. I would have to go to their room. They were not well enough to come anyplace, so I'd go to their room, and here they had. . . . They were ready for me. They had all their books stacked up. And we went book by book by book, and I thought to myself, "Here's these kids who don't have much more life in them, but they want to study. And the kids in school you have to fight with them to do work for you." SVMF: I know. It's so hard. SMHM: And that I think goes through all grade levels. But anyway, these children, oh, they wanted to learn, and you could do nice things with them to make them happy. SVMF: What a wonderful ministry. SMHM: It is. Then I had a boy, and his last name was Hoover. He was from Kentucky, and he was a senior. And he was the popular boy in the school because he was the chief football player. He was also tall, so he was the basketball chief one. And he was president of his class, senior class. Well, in February he kind of felt sick, and they sent him to Children's. His own doctor diagnosed him. It was cancer. So they sent him to Children's, and this tall, handsome young man I taught, and I can't tell you the blood-- He was memorizing his chemistry formulas- I can't tell you the blood was running down his eyes because of the Coumadin, see, and, my gosh, I just loved him whatever his first name was, Hoover. Weekends I didn't teach I went home. SVMF: Where was home? SMHM: Mount Saint Joseph, the Motherhouse. And so anyway one day I came back, and he had died. And someone said, one of the nurses said to me, "Sister, we had to do it this way." His mother would put this big boy on her lap and just hug him and rock him, you know, that kind of thing. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 24 �And here he was, and they called the mother apart one day, and they said to her, "Just tell him it's all right to go." And so she went back and told him, I'll say Bob. "Bob, it's all right to go." And do you know, he looked at her, and he died. He died in her arms. Isn't that sad? I went to the funeral. I mean the wake, I went to the wake. And he wanted for Christmas a cowboy hat and big boots, and that's what they had for him. They put the hat on his chest and the boots were on him. SVMF: You had some very touching experiences there. SMHM: Oh, my and then we had at the university, they were decorating or doing something to where they put the people who are mentally distracted, and, my gosh, didn't they give me charge of these boys. They were like ten feet tall as far as I was concerned. And I had to teach them. SVMF: Is this at Children's also? SMHM: Yes it is. And see, so I had to teach them, but they wouldn't be taught. So I forgot everything, and I said, "Let's play pool." So they played pool, and, boy, they taught me. Oh, they were happy to teach me. I kept trying to hit those balls. You hit one ball and three balls go in. I didn't do that, they did. And then they had, there was another big game there that they played that they could jump on the ceiling, and they could jump on the walls, and they could shoot people. Oh my, it was terrible. What was in that thing? But two or three of them would get together, and they would get these things in their hands, and they would push all these men in the TV all around. SVMF: Like those games. SMHM: Yes, those games that you really shouldn't watch. SVMF: Well, you were there from '87 to '95, but that wasn't your last hurrah. It says here that then you were at Presentation Ministries. As a coworker for Presentation. Those are those little books that came out? SMHM: Oh, yes that was Father, oh, he was a saint. Father, you'll get the name, won't you? ©Sisters of Charity Archives 25 �SVMF: I will. [Father Albert E. Lauer] I know they did it in Spanish. I always got the Spanish books, English and Spanish. SMHM: He wrote all kinds of books. And he was a saint, he really was. It was at the same time that another saint priest died, and his name was something, you can look that up, like Whimple. SVMF: Willig, how about Willig? SMHM: That's it, Willig. And he had a prominent family, so he got a lot of attention. Poor Father Lauer. I think I got the name right. He was at Old St. Mary's and working like a dog, you know. SVMF: What did you do there at Presentation? SMHM: At Presentation Ministries every day we would go, and people would mail in that they wanted, certain book, and then we would mail the books out. That's what I did there. And then upstairs I helped with the ones that were in charge. I helped them do things. SVMF: This is at St. Mary's downtown? SMHM: No, Father Lauer was at Old St. Mary's downtown. But his Presentation Ministries was I think on Kensington Avenue in Cincinnati. And how they got this Presentation Ministries was Father Lauer, I hope I'm saying it right, Father Lauer was a brilliant man, and he made all these books and things, when he was the pastor at Presentation Church, but the Bishop closed it because it was a small parish. And then the group there wanted to still be together, and so they founded what they called Presentation Ministries. And that's popular, I guess all over the state. SVMF: It says that you were there for five years. SMHM: Yes, I was, but, see, I was doing more clerical things. SVMF: But you were still working. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 26 �SMHM: I was passing good education. See, the books were very bold. Somebody really ought to try to add more. They were more leaflets, you know. SVMF: Yes, I used to have them because they had them in English and Spanish, and I always wanted to read everything I could in Spanish to keep Spanish up. And they were good. SMHM: He was on the radio too, you know. SVMF: Well, then finally, finally you retired, and you came back to the Motherhouse? SMHM: Yes, and I, well, I came back to the Motherhouse, and what I really did was get some materials that would be ethnic and had music and stories with it, the language, but I couldn't speak the language, of course. But the thing is I went to different rooms, and I remember Gertrudis [Pfeiffer] especially. She was from Germany, came over when she was five years old and she was very tall, and she was a wonderful, wonderful nurse. And, however, she wasn't thinking fully straight, and she was ill too. SVMF: She was in Mother Margaret? SMHM: She was in Nursing. And that's where I went, the Nursing in Mother Margaret. And I went to her room, and she was an opera soprano. Yes, she was. And you never heard her sing? SVMF: No. SMHM: Oh, my gosh. Well, anyway, she would sing, so I found these German books, you know, and the leaflets and things, anything German, and I'd go to her room. I'd say, "Did you ever hear of this?" And she'd look at the book, and say, "Oh, yes." And I said, "Can you sing a German song?" I would have something there. And it was easy to get the German stuff. Anyway, she'd look at the song, and then she'd look , and she'd sing this German song. Oh, I heard her all over the floor. And the people, the help, would come out to hear her, you know, and of ©Sisters of Charity Archives 27 �course she couldn't see them because she was facing the window. And they all loved that. And I thought this is wonderful. So the next day I thought I'm going to go back. Well, I went back, and she'd say about the song, "Oh I haven't sung that in years." And then she'd sing it, and then the people would come. Well, that was enough because we'd had enough. And the next thing now, I didn't have any friends, and I didn't have any friend, Sisters either but German and Irish. And I don't know what else there is. SVMF: So that was your ministry then. SMHM: It was a ministry for me to have music, and if they were artists or something, they could do some art, any of the nice things that would be of beauty. SVMF: And now you're here, and I would just like to ask you about your life , and what you think about religious life now and in the future maybe. SMHM: Well, I'm very conservative, and I feel that the Sisters are doing wonderful work. However, I don't recognize some of it. But I know they're doing good work because people are improving their lives because of them. And there is one that is dead. The funeral will be tomorrow or is it today? SVMF: It's today, Mary Lou Knapke. SMHM: Her name is Mary Lou Knapke, and her life has had a lot of different turns, and at the end people say now, "See, I don't know her or what she has been doing up to the present, it was a sudden death, beautiful work. Another Sister, who was before her in death, was Sister Elizabeth Cashman, who was in the College and did all kinds of different work there. SVMF: And she also worked with Hospice. SMHM: Oh, did she? ©Sisters of Charity Archives 28 �SVMF: Yes. SMHM: She worked at Hospice, my goodness. SVMF: I find out so much when they give the reflection at their funeral. You find out, oh my goodness, you know. Today Father Boltman, the Jesuit, who's in charge of the Retreat House, and he has Bellarmine Chapel. He wrote a beautiful response to Mary Lou's death. Here's what he said: "She was such a good gift to so many of us Jesuits. I always felt on the same page with Mary Lou. She was turning the page and calling me on. This is not the kind of person that you think will suddenly just not be there. And I'm sorry not to be with everybody today at the funeral. She always made clear, 'We do what we can.' Thanks to God for her.' Richard Boltman, Jesuit, SJ." Wasn't that a beautiful tribute. She got one tribute-- it will be a big crowd today for her funeral--but listen. . . . SMHM: May I just say one more thing? There are many other Sisters of humbler background that are really the saints of the Community. Sister Ann Loretto [Connell] is one. And there are many, many more whose names are just names, but they are beautiful Sisters of Charity. SVMF: Do you want to say anything about the Church, Mary Helen? What's your future plan? What do you think about the future of the Church? SMHM: Oh well, Pope Francis is a pope for these times. There are some things that for us, me, might be questionable about people going to Holy Communion and not being fully Catholic. And there are other questions too, but I'm not capable of talking about them now. But I feel that people love simplicity, and that Pope Francis is, and he took the name Francis, and I think in Spirit he is very close to him. SVMF: And he's a Jesuit. SMHM: And he's a Jesuit. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 29 �SVMF: I know you could hardly have a better combination; that's an interesting thing. SMHM: That's it. And I really think. . . . I listen to his homilies. I listen to his Mass on Sunday, and, oh gosh, you can tell he's a Jesuit. He must have majored in literature or something. SVMF: Well, Sister Mary Helen, I don't want to stop your oral history without you having said everything you want to. But you can always add thing; we can always add if you think of something else. SMHM: Well, there's one thing. Remember at Shrine I was telling about Grace Miriam made me do everything practically, and she gave me. . . to open up, I want to say, "You can fix this up." SVMF: In the school? SMHM: You know where the kids make decisions. SVMF: Counseling? SMHM: No, not counseling. Well, anyhow, I'll let you know later. Anyway, she put me in charge of this, so I had to organize this group, and they were very much wanting to do this. And of course they were children that were in wealthy areas in Royal Oak, Michigan. And they were kind of spoiled and on the risqué side. But anyway we put on this talent show, and, oh, they all wanted this, and they were all wanting to be in it, and they were the preferred. Well, these boys, there were four of them, were harmonizing, and they were singing, "We're poor little lambs," that song, and all of a sudden the back doors of the auditorium opened, and there was Father Coughlin with Sister Grace Miriam. Now in this area, the Royal Oak area and the other area, I can't remember what it's called, but they were all one. It was Birmingham and something else. Well, anyway, Father Coughlin was stuttering, he was mad, and he came up to the front of the auditorium, and he blasted the whole group, all the kids that were there for the talent show, and the people that were on the stage. And he turned and let them know that they weren't hiding behind his back. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 30 �SVMF: Is this at the actual performance, the actual performance with the audience? SMHM: The actual performance, the whole school was there. All right, so anyway, the problem was that in this area were wealthy people, wealthy kids. They were writing bad words on doors, and they were doing other things, and some of ours were in on it. And that's when he said, if ever he finds these people, "After my talk, I'm going to do something to you." Then out he marched, and out goes Grace Miriam with him. So the door closed in the back, and I didn't know whether to pull the curtain, or what to do, or go on with the program. So I opened-- we had closed it, and now I opened it, and here were the same kids, same boys. See, they were all seniors, and here they were, and I thought, "Oh, now surely now they'll start another song." No, no. "We're poor little lambs that have gone astray." They finished this song that they started. And they were poor little lambs, I'm telling you. SVMF: Oh dear, I'm glad that you got that in. SMHM: Is that all right? SVMF: Yes, that's wonderful. SMHM: You can take it out. SVMF: No, no, I'd never take that out or take anything out. I want to thank you just from the bottom of my heart for such a refreshing and such an enriching oral history. SMHM: I just hope it was all right. SVMF: I wanted to get an educator in our oral history as part of our history of the Sisters of Charity, and who better could do that than you. SMHM: Did I do enough of it? ©Sisters of Charity Archives 31 �SVMF: Oh my, you certainly did and such a variety of missions and ministries. SMHM: Another thing I'm going to say about education, a good teacher reads all the writings that are updated for education. SVMF: Yes. SMHM: A good teacher has those among her library books. And a good teacher, I think, is a totally alive, and I really mean we're alive with Christ within us. But the point is what you mean outside of that. They're not sitting at their desk; they're down with the kids, they're looking over the papers that the kids are writing. They're helping them. They're doing lots of things. You're not just sitting at the desk or sitting up there eating an apple on top of the desk while the kids are writing. Really, I know that they have to write, and they have to take tests, but by the same token the rest of the time that they're not doing that there should be active and lively activity in the room. Even if all you want to do is what we did when we were kids, have some of them come up in the front of the room and make a little play right on the spot. SVMF: Just keep active, intellectually too of course. SMHM: Don't put that in if you don't think I didn't speak very well. SVMF: I think you spoke very well. SMHM: I'm more talking to you. SVMF: No, I think that's part of your oral history. That's very important advice for all of us who are teachers or who will be teachers, most definitely. SMHM: The Sisters really did do that. SVMF: I just want to thank you and I'll turn off the recorder with a deep heartfelt thanks for all you have shared. SMHM: Any of this bad stuff I am telling you. . . . ©Sisters of Charity Archives 32 �SVMF: I don't think there is any bad stuff; it's excellent. Thank you again. What a wonderful oral history, what a treasure we have. Thank you so much. ©Sisters of Charity Archives 33 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed McKenna, Sister Mary Helen, SC Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Forde, Sister Victoria Marie, SC Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Audio/mp3 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 1 Hour 32 Minutes 8 Seconds Location The location of the interview Cincinnati (Ohio) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sister Mary Helen McKenna, SC Interviewed by Sister Victoria Marie Forde, SC November 12, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati; Monasticism and religious orders for women -- Catholic Church -- History; Catholic Church --- Education -- United States -- History Description An account of the resource An interview with Sister Mary Helen McKenna by Sister Victoria Marie Forde. This recording is a part of the oral history series housed at the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archives. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McKenna, Sister Mary Helen, SC; Forde, Sister Victoria Marie, SC Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 11/12/2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Laverty, Jackene (Transcriber) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights, reproduction, and use requests or more information, please contact the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archivist Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Audio/mp3 Application/pdf Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Sister Mary Helen McKenna, SC Interviewed by Sister Victoria Marie Forde, SC November 12, 2018 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1920-2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archives Oral History Series Education Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/e21bbbafbe7f0eb4bddb90df339ad43f.jpg 73ee666d4009aa4a58b72d0e3144896d https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/d8de700192d8b1f95e52583f6e0fbd95.mp3 aa734d5e5e51f9e7e1785380c15ddeb0 https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/d8b64a9c20bc804cac540cc812a95bd1.pdf 020698e7763c09d03573bc552812afda PDF Text Text Interviewer: Interviewee: Date: Editor: Date edited: Sister Francis Maria Cassidy, SC Sister Mary Josepha Murphy, SC July 1, 1983 Sister Noreen Neary, SC November 6, 2020 Sr. Francis Maria: I'm visiting down at Saint Anne Villa with Sr. Mary Josepha. We're sitting in a very bright room. Is this the back of the house, Sister? On the back of the house…is a very pretty pink spread on a pretty blue bed and all around is color and brightness, and of course, the brightest thing in the room is Sister herself. Sister was an [inaudible]. [Archbishop Robert Seton] was at Convent Station in his retirement and she had the privilege, and I think she regards it as a privilege, of serving him in the dining room. And she's agreed to recall a few of her memories. Sister, what year did you become a Sister of Charity? Sr. Mary Josepha: January 6, 1926. And the day I got the habit, I went to take care of the Archbishop, and I was with him until he died, that one full year. I always considered the Archbishop a lonely person with no friends, except the college girls [students at the College of Saint Elizabeth] who were very nice to him. And they used to take walks with him sometimes on the grounds. He was very thin, medium height, white hair, a long nose, just points for teeth. He was a very quiet man, wellspoken, courteous. Always wore a cassock with a cape edged in red and a red skull cap. I think he was quite eccentric in his thoughts and words. Although he was 87 years old, beginning to get a little senile, he never missed saying Mass. I had nothing outstanding in my dealings with the Archbishop, except maybe a few interesting and humorous incidents. For instance, we had rules and customs that if we were in a room with a member of the other sex, we must [never] close the door. Well, our Mistress of Novices came over one day to see how I was [inaudible] me. Sr. Francis Maria: What was the door? Sr. Mary Josepha: The door out to the room where I used to sit and wait for him and then a door out into the hall; there were two doors. Sr. Francis Maria: Up to his room? Sr. Mary Josepha: No, no, downstairs in his private dining room. So the next day, I opened the door a few inches, the Archbishop noticed it and said, "Close that door." So I went over and I closed the door with a bang and then opened it softly; his back was to the door and he didn't notice. �Sr. Francis Maria: You played a trick on him. Sr. Mary Josepha: I really pleased everyone. Sr. Francis Maria: It's still there? Sr. Mary Josepha: It's the dining room in the front hall. As you come in the main front door, to the left there's a small room that I used to sit in and then a very large dining room that was his room, no one else used it. Downstairs, that was his room, no one else used that room. I had to tell the chef each day what to prepare for him. So I'd ask him and I'd say, "Now, Your Grace, what do you want for dinner tomorrow?" And he never called me Sister. "Josepha, a gentlemen eats to live, he doesn't live to eat," so he'd never tell me. Then he usually had like mashed sweet potatoes, which he called Carolinas, with a poached egg. And this day he said, "Take this back to the chef, it's terrible." So I took it into the next little room, put it on the radiator, took a fork, mixed it up a bit and took it back. Sr. Mary Josepha: He had it at noon time and he had his dinner at night, and he always came dressed for dinner with his white cuffs, and that was dinner. Now, I'd bring him a tray at noon time, then I would go back. He would like to detain me, but I used to try to get out as fast as I could. One day he was down and his dictation, I had to write into his, what was it? Sr. Francis Maria: His diary. Sr. Mary Josepha: His diary. And a few weeks ago, 57 years later, I read it, his dictation with my name signed to it, Novice, that I would promise to take care of him, et cetera, I forget what the rest said. And also, sometimes, when I would go back for the tray, he wouldn't be there, but it'd have a note on it. I can remember one note in particular that the soup tastes like dishwater, but sometimes he liked his lunch, but sometimes. But he'd leave a note and I kept putting them in my very large pocket. And one day I'm in the classroom, cleaning out my pocket and [Sr. Rita Dolores Simons] came in and said, "Oh, you're cleaning your desk?" I said, "No, my pocket." She said, "Well, what's this?" I said, "It's Arch...", so she gathered them all up and put them in the basket. I probably would have done the same. Sr. Francis Maria: Wouldn't it be nice if we had them today? Sr. Mary Josepha: �They were his writing. Sr. Francis Maria: Sister Josepha, when you brought him his tray, you brought that up to his bedroom? Sr. Mary Josepha: Yes. He had a bedroom and a sitting room. Sr. Francis Maria: Yes, would you tell us where that was? Sr. Francis Maria: Sister Josepha, toward the close of his life, I believe that the Archbishop had an accident and then became ill. Would you tell us something about what you remember of his illness and his death? Sr. Mary Josepha: Yes, he broke his hip and the complications set in. And this particular day [Sister Mary Ellen Mangan] said, "Don't go to class today, we're going over to see the Archbishop." So we went over and in his room that he used as his living room, a sitting room, there were a group of sisters were sitting in there, just outside of his bedroom. And when we went into his bedroom, [Mother Mary Alexandrine Jackson] was there and a nurse sitting beside his bed. Now, Mother Alexandrine and Sr. Mary Ellen blessed him with Holy Water. They came over and told me to sit beside his bed until I was sent for. So that was about three o'clock in the afternoon. And I sat there until six. And during that time, he came to once and he spoke, but I couldn't understand what he said. But the nurse leaned down and said, "He recognized you and he wants you to hold his hand." "Oh," I said, "I couldn't do that, I'm a novice." But she said, "He's an old man and he's dying." Well, he died the next morning, about 10 o'clock. And that evening, the day he died, I was on my way back to the novitiate from the dining hall. The sisters met me in the hall and took a hold of me by the arm and said, "Oh, come on, come into the parlor there, the Archbishop's body is going to be in review." So I went in the parlor with them and there were about 25 professed sisters standing there, the folding doors were closed, and I was a little nervous, being a novice, I felt I didn't belong there, especially when I saw Sr. Rita, who was over the education in the novitiate. Finally, the folding doors opened and Sr. Rita Dolores said, "We'll let his friend go in and kneel and say the first prayer." So I went in, and I still remember how he was laid out on a couch. He was in a lace alb with a skull cap on, and beside him, there was a large vase, a very tall vase, with American beauty roses in. Sr. Francis Maria: That was a lovely tribute, wasn't it, to be called Archbishop Seton's friend? Mother Seton must have loved you. You became more familiar with Mother Seton as the years went on. Sr. Mary Josepha: �I didn't tell about going to Rome, did I? Sr. Francis Maria: No, would you tell us a little something about the beatification, Sister? Sr. Mary Josepha: Well, the Archbishop used to speak about Mother Seton, but I didn't know too much about Mother Seton until I went out on a mission, and I really listened to him very politely, and he spoke frequently of his parents, also. But I didn't recall…he used to talk about Seton annex that he was so happy that that was named after his grandmother. Also, he gave a desk, told me about the desk he gave to Mother Alexandrine that had belonged to Mother Seton. Now, when I went out on a mission and I read and knew about the canonization of Mother Seton, and we received word from the provincials that they would send one from each province. And if she was interested, just send her name in. Sr. Francis Maria: Now, Sister, this would have been in the 1960s, so it was probably the beatification, was it? Sr. Mary Josepha: No, it was the canonization. Sr. Francis Maria: It was the canonization? Sr. Mary Josepha: In 1975. Sr. Francis Maria: I see. Sr. Mary Josepha: It was the canonization. Sr. Francis Maria: Did you not go to the beatification? Sr. Mary Josepha: I didn't go to the beatification because the principal of the school I was in [Sister Mary Angelina Meyers of Saint Cecilia School, Englewood, NJ] wanted very much to go, and she asked me. She said if I went she felt she couldn't go, so I didn't go. But later at the canonization, I didn't think much, when they said someone, if you want to put your name in. But one day when I was on my way to school with my books in my hand, I walked past the telephone booth and I just had an inspiration. I went in and called [Sister Therese Dorothy Leland]. I said, "Sister Therese, would �you put my name in that basket for the canonization of Mother Seton?" Then I went on to school and said a little prayer; I said, "Now, Mother Seton, you know I took care of your grandson the last year of his life, so maybe you could send me to the canonization.” Sr. Mary Josepha: Nights later, the telephone rang at 10 o'clock. Sister said, "It is Sr. Therese Dorothy." Ooh, I said, "What would she ever want me for at 10 o'clock at night?" So I went to the telephone and Sr. Therese said, "Are you seated?" I said, "Yes." She said, "You won the trip to Rome." So I feel that Mother Seton sent me. Sr. Francis Maria: Do you pray for Archbishop Seton, Sister? Do you think about him sometimes? Sr. Mary Josepha: I do think about him, but I don't say that I pray too much, but I do once in a while. When I think of Mother Seton and that's…I never think of Mother Seton without thinking of the Archbishop. And he would speak to me about his father; I wish I had paid more attention to it. But I never considered it a bother. And I was never impatient with him. Sr. Francis Maria: That's a nice memory. Sister, I know that you didn't encourage long conversations with him because your Mistress of Novices certainly gave you your orders, I'm sure about that. But apart from the things you've already told us, do you ever remember any little things that he said to you or anything you said to him or did for him? Sr. Mary Josepha: Well, I had very many interesting and humorous things we used to talk about them when I went over to the novitiate. I don't think I spoke about the dessert, did I? Sr. Francis Maria: No. Sr. Mary Josepha: No. He used to want me to sit down and have dessert with him, which I never did. This particular evening, he had delicious cake and he tried hard to have me sit down, but I didn't do it. After he left, [Sister Ursulina McKeon] came over from the other side to help me carry his dishes over. But before we did it, we finished the cake. And also Sr. Francis Maria: Do you remember that dessert, I suppose, better than almost any other dessert? Sr. Mary Josepha: Oh, yeah, I always remember. It was the only time I ever ate his dessert. Did I talk about the notes…I did…on the tray? �Sr. Francis Maria: Yes, you did. You told us about the notes that he used to leave for you on the tray, and how we wish we had them today. Sr. Mary Josepha: When I went in for his tray one day, he asked me to go into the next room and get him a brush and wet it and a hand mirror. I said to myself, "Well, now, if he wants me to brush his hair, I'm not going to do it." I went out, and I held the mirror up and he said, "You have a spot on your cape. Now, you know, when you wait on the Archbishop, you mustn't have any spots.” Well, I removed my spot, picked up his tray and returned with it. Sr. Francis Maria: He was very fastidious. Now, did you ever attend his Mass, Sister, in the chapel? Sr. Mary Josepha: Oh, yes. I went to his Mass and when we were, and one time in particular, there were four of us in the band, four postulants. And I guess Sr. Mary Ellen didn't know what to do with us this time, she said, "Go over to the Archbishop's Mass." He said the Mass on Our Lady's altar, way over to the side. When he turned around, he was very happy to see that he had an audience…he didn't usually. And I think it was the Feast of St. Peter's Chair at Rome, because he saw when he had an audience, he gave us a homily. Now, we were kind of young and just entered, and we really giggled a little bit, we thought it was quite something for him to give us a homily. We went back to the novitiate, we told Sr. Mary Ellen we giggled, and she said, "Well, that was all right." Sr. Francis Maria: She was understanding. But he did like the young, didn't he, Sister? I think that he didn't like the idea of growing old himself; no one does. But I think he liked to surround himself with the young and the happy. Sr. Mary Josepha: He was always happy if the college girls would stop and talk to him and sometimes they'd walk around the grounds with him. And they were very, very kind to him. Even occasionally they went into his living room and he showed them different things that he had, but that was his real. Oh, he liked [Mother Mary Benita Kane]. Now, Mother Benita was a librarian then in the big library. And he used to get the Times every day. And I used to give it to Mother Benita when he finished the Times. But he did like Mother Benita; she was Sr. Benita then. Sr. Francis Maria: Yes. Well, that's a very nice thing to recall. Sister, you said he used to walk with the college girls. I know his diary mentions many times the girls coming to visit him and he'd mention them by name and he would look out the window and see the [Academy of Saint Elizabeth] girls returning and he'd feel lonesome when they'd leave at the end of the summer. Also, I think they used to escort him to movies that were held over in the auditorium. Did he ever speak to you about being lonely? �Sr. Mary Josepha: Yes, because he'd say that he would try to stop people to give them, and they would just go right by. And we did have little conversations, never too long. But another time it really didn't, no one just sympathizes with it, but he had these points for teeth. And one time he called me because he bit his lip and it was bleeding and he wanted me to look at it and he said, "Now, look at it, feel it." I said, "No, I don't have to feel it, Your Grace, I can see it." But you see, he was just looking for a little sympathy. Sr. Francis Maria: Yes. He was probably a little frightened, too, and wanted someone to give him a little bit of attention and take care of that for him. And you were so sweet and young with him. Now, Sister, did he use a cane? Sr. Mary Josepha: No. He didn't use any cane, he used to shuffle along. You could hear him come along the hall shuffling. But if I remember rightly, I don't think he had eyeglasses. I'm sure he didn't have eyeglasses and he didn't use a cane. He walked slowly. He used to go to Morristown once in a while, and he'd hire a car and take him to Morristown and he'd come back with boxes of candy and jars of jelly for me to put away for him. And one time he gave me a half a pound of candy. He said, "I'd give you a pound, but I know the Mistress of Novices will take it from you." So, you know, although we had plenty of candy in the novitiate. Every once in a while, he'd give me a book and different things and I hesitated and I said, "Sr. Mary Ellen, what will I do if he wants?" She said, "You take anything he gives you." Sr. Francis Maria: He knew all about the inner workings of the things, but he was kind. Sr. Mary Josepha: He was very kind. Sr. Francis Maria: He was lonely. Sr. Mary Josepha: He just wanted a little attention and someone to speak to him. Sr. Francis Maria: Well, thank you, Sr. Josepha, for sharing those memories of Archbishop Seton with us. They're memories, of course, that no one but yourself has. There are other sisters who remember other things, but these are your personal memories of him. Thank you very much, Sister. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Murphy, Sister Mary Josepha, S.C. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Cassidy, Sister Francis Maria, S.C. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data cassette tape Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:17:36 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sister Mary Josepha Murphy, S.C. Oral History Subject The topic of the resource Murphy, Sister Mary Josepha, S.C.; Mother Seton; Archbishop Robert Seton Description An account of the resource Description of Sister's interactions with Archbishop Robert Seton during her novitiate year Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Murphy, Sister Mary Joseph, S.C.; Cassidy, Sister Francis Maria, S.C. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 1, 1983 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Neary, Sister Noreen, S.C. (Editor) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Sister M. Josepha Murphy describes her interactions with Archbishop Seton Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant July 1, 1983 Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/a8452564525adc7b0d408a6941837e4f.jpg bcb5735a4f5d4c1baddb3097a20a26b3 https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/6d485eb5496cea21148ff12b5ff59431.mp3 aa3a10940e2393e5acde070a73b2cc68 https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/2fd27753a250b23dcc24309a4db24244.pdf 06293fd201cf51d0aa60af1fd90296c9 PDF Text Text 1 Sister Maryland Anderson – Oral History It is April 24, 2014, and I [S. Andrea Koverman] am here talking with Sister Maryland Anderson [in Mother Margaret Hall where Maryland is recuperating]. Maryland: Maryland T. It is listed in the book. Andrea: What is the T. for? Maryland: Theresa Andrea: Is that your given name or your religious name? Maryland: Theresa is my confirmation name, after Theresa of the Little Flower. Andrea: So it that Tere… Maryland: Theresa Andrea: You mentioned Dayton before. I grew up in Dayton. Maryland: I lived there. Andrea: What part? Maryland: On Sherwood Drive, right behind Good Samaritan Hospital. In the Trotwood area sort of. Andrea: I was on the Bellbrook, Centerville line. I went to Incarnation in Centerville and then Alter High School. Maryland: Oh yeah, Alter. Centerville is a good shopping area. Andrea: It has grown into a big shopping area. Maryland: Yes, it has. I use the Greene (Town Center) now. It is very nice. Andrea: I like to be outside. Maryland: That is all I need. I don’t do a lot of shopping. Andrea: Okay. To start with you can tell me anything you want to, whether I have a question, if it doesn’t address it, whatever you feel like you want to include. We could start with maybe you telling me what your life was like before you entered. What is your family background and where are you from. Maryland: I am from Florida, born close to Jacksonville. I grew up in St. Augustine. I went to a girls’ academy there because it was during the war, and my parents traveled. My dad was an engineer and they travelled, so they put us in that school. My parents were not Catholic. In fact, my daddy did not like Catholics. He was Swedish, born in Stockholm, and he was a Swedish engineer-trained. He thought that the Sisters were the only people in the United States that could really educate people. So he overcame his prejudice because he wanted me to have a good education. And I think he was very right on that. So then I went to college. I got my bachelor’s degree at Florida State, my master’s degree at Louisiana State, and my Ph.D. from Notre Dame. The Notre Dame. ©Sisters of Charity Archives �2 Andrea: The Notre Dame. And what are your degrees in? Maryland: My bachelor’s degree is Fine Arts I think... No, actually Science. And let’s see, my master’s degree is master of Science, and my Ph.D. is in anthropology and that kind of stuff which I enjoy very much. I taught at Notre Dame, and I also taught at the Mount. I came to the Community a little late in life because I had lived and worked a lot before I came in. And then I met the Sisters of Charity at Notre Dame and became very intrigued by what they had to…, what their dedication to the Lord and the work of the Community was. And it spoke to me because they were not cloistered and shut away. They worked in the real world, and that appealed to me a great deal. And so I became very interested in them, and I had Sisters that added to that influence. And then I went out West to work with the Sisters again, and I was at El Pomar which was a retreat place we had there. It was lovely. And I worked there at a hospital, one we owned. At that time we ran our hospitals. We had not divested. And so that sort of did it. Along the way I decided, "Maybe I will do this." So I prayed a lot about it, thought about it, and finally made up my mind. Well, I think they don’t accept people… I was near 50 when I did it, and I don’t think they take people of that age any more. Andrea: Well, actually, that is about how old I am. Well, I just turned 50 on March 28th. So I started pre-entrance when I was 44. Maryland: Did you? Are you planning on entering? Andrea: Yes, I am a Novice. Maryland: Oh, I don’t think that registered with me. Andrea: Oh I am sorry. Yes, I am a Novice. Maryland: Well, congratulations. Andrea: Thank you. Maryland: Who is your Novice Director? Andrea: Donna Steffen. Maryland: I don’t know her very well, but I know who she is. Andrea: We live in the back of St. Joseph Home. And there is another Novice, Tracy Kemme. Maryland: I have heard her name from someone. We lived in Bayley Place when I was there. Betty Finn was our Novice Director, and we lived in the back of Bayley. Andrea: That is where we live. Which bedroom was yours? Maryland: I think I was on the second floor. I don’t remember, but it was close to the end. And we got into a lot of mischief. We gave Betty a little fit. Betty was… There was an older Sister who is still with us, Sister…I know her name as well as I know my own. I ©Sisters of Charity Archives �3 just haven’t called it in a long time. She was the older Sister in the house, and she and Betty were good friends. Andrea: Annina Morgan? Maryland: Yes, Annina. Betty used to tell Annina, "You keep out of the business of the Novices. That is my job." So that was rather… I had a very short… I did my novitiate very quickly. Well, I did almost a year. And then did one year… the next step, and then I took my first vows. And I did my final vows very quickly too. Because by this time in life, I knew what was going on. I wasn’t just a young person trying to decide about various things. I have been very happy as a Sister of Charity. I found it very supportive and I tried to be very true to our mission in what we do. And I do still, although I am retired now. I still do help people with grants, but they have to be 501C3 which means they are tax exempt. And I am working primarily with women and children who are poor and dependent. Andrea: That is great. Maryland: And that is very challenging to me because writing grants is sort of like hunting for Easter eggs. You kind of dig around and see what you can come up with. It is getting harder as finances have tightened. Philanthropic money is not as available as it used to be. But you can still get some. You really have to work at it. I am lucky in that I have been doing it so long that my name is known to some of them that I go to. So they know that if I am bringing them a request that it fits their guidelines and that I have come to the right group of people. That is where a lot of people make their mistake. They go to Foundations that don’t support what they are asking for. And there is nothing wrong with their mission and what they want to do; they just go to the wrong source. So you know that is just a learning process. I have taught some courses on grant writing. Andrea: Oh, that is good. I did some of that as a teacher. Maryland: Oh, did you? Andrea: It was called 21st Century Grants, and we wrote that and got it. Maryland: I have got copies of ones that I have written at home. I have books of them. Andrea: That is great because then you can use them. So when you went to…,you said you went to El Pomar to work. Were you a nurse or what were you doing? Maryland: I really went there to work in a medical program. I worked with the National Cancer Institute out of Washington, you know, the big National Cancer Institute of the Institutes, and I set up a cancer program there…cancer information, and it is big now. It has taken over the whole…that area of Colorado, and we did it with, as I say, with federal money. We trained people to be knowledgeable in cancer, so that callers who had been recently diagnosed or people who were just worried about it or wanted knowledge about prevention.… These people were trained to answer questions. But we had two oncologists that worked with us who were really the head of the program medically, and when we had questions that required a doctor’s answer which we avoided, when we did we would go to our cancer doctors, our oncologists. And one of them that was my boss his name was Anderson too. And they thought we were ©Sisters of Charity Archives �4 married. Oh no. Paul Anderson was his name. So we built that program up and it became very big and very important. So that is what kind of took me out West and tied me there. Andrea: Does it have a name…the Cancer Institute you started? Maryland: It was Cancer Information Services of Colorado at that time. Now it is Cancer Information Services of the Western Front, I think they call it. It covers all of that area. So it just broadened and grew and grew. It was very challenging. We had Elisabeth Kubler-Ross come and speak. And then I wanted to do some ads, and I knew a woman who knew Ann B. Davis real well. Do you know who Ann B. Davis is? Andrea: No. Maryland: She played on that program the Brady Bunch. She was the maid. Andrea: Flo…not Flo. Maryland: Ann B. Davis was her name. But what was she on the program? Andrea: I am trying to remember. I can’t think of it. Maryland: She had been on two different TV programs. The earlier one she was a little…kind of funny. Well, anyway, through this friend that got us together, I ended up… At the time I had a little red pickup truck because I had a camper…I wasn’t in the Community then, and I liked to camp a lot. So I went to pick her up in my truck, and we just had the best ole time. And she came.We had her set up in a nice place to stay, and we had a big luncheon and had her there. And people came to meet he,r and we did a PSA, Public Service Ad, and she did… We set up a kitchen and got the cauliflower and all of these nice beautiful vegetables, and when people realized we were going to do an ad people give them to you. So we had a beautiful set up for her to work with when they did the filming of the ad. And then the Cancer Information Service at the federal level wanted to use it, but they had a control over it, so it could only be used in our particular area of the country. Those Hollywood people hang on to things. So that was a good experience. I enjoyed that very much. People were very dedicated to that service. You know, cancer is something that concerns us all. No doubt that we encouraged a lot of people to have checkups. And you know I never realized the number of men…You don’t realize they need to do breast exams until we had that program years ago, and I thought, you know guys are supposed to do this too, and they don’t know it. Well, it is smaller in percentage certainly than women, but it is just as bad. Andrea: Yeah, they do have it. Maryland: So that was a big part of my coming into…when I first came in…I taught at Notre Dame, and I taught at the Mount as I said. I have been in academic missions most of my life. I did do some time in the Navy and the Medical Service Corp. ©Sisters of Charity Archives �5 Andrea: Oh, you did? Well, can you start from when you grew up in Florida, and you told me where you went to school, but when did you get out? Was the first place you went El Pomar after? Maryland: For the Community? Andrea: No, like before you entered the Community what was your. . . ? Maryland: El Pomar was not in my life at the time. Andrea: I know you have already covered this quickly, but from high school you went to… Maryland: From high school I went to college. Andrea: Yeah, but… Maryland: I worked at different kinds of jobs that young people do. I got jobs to help support me through my education. I was a soda jerk for a while. I think I was a sophomore or freshman in high school, and we were right down the street from a hospital. We had student nurses in there, and they are always broke, and I got fired for giving away ice cream. Andrea: Oh, no. Maryland: I would give them two or three scoops of ice cream and only charge them for one of two. That was the only time in my life that I ever got fired from my job. But I did that kind of stuff out of high school, worked at different kinds of jobs and worked toward going to school. My parents were not poor, but I was one of these people who wanted to do it myself. My daddy said, "If you get through the first four years I will help you with the rest of it." And I did the first four years in three years, and when he wanted to help me I said, "I am going to do it myself." So I did. He was, as I said, a Swede. He was an engineer at that time, and a lot of Swedes migrated to America to become engineers, and we were working on things like Boulder Dam and stuff like that. So it was a good haven for well-trained engineers, and he came. And part of his time here was when the Depression was just starting out. I was born in ’30 which was the beginning of the Depression, and he became a chef at a New York restaurant, Luchalls [?], it was a famous restaurant, for a while because there was no work for engineers. But he met my mom in Chicago, and they married, and then I came along… Andrea: And they ended up in Florida somehow. Maryland. Yes. Well, my mother was from Terre Haute, Indiana, and they liked Florida. They moved there, and then he had a big business after that. Andrea: Do you have siblings? Maryland: I have half brothers and a half sister. My mother was married to their father, and he was a lawyer, and he was killed by a man that he sent to prison. He had him sent to prison, and when he got out he shot him. So that was the end of that first marriage, and then she met my father, and they married. So I had two half brothers and ©Sisters of Charity Archives �6 a half sister. The oldest half brother died in the war, and my other brother died some years later of a heart attack. And my sister and I were very close, but she died about five years ago. So that was the last of my… Now I have nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews, and they are all in Florida, and we stay very much in touch. They tell me I am insane to live in Ohio. Andrea: I am sure because they are in Florida. Maryland: They are right. Andrea: Did you say you grew up in Fort Lauderdale? Maryland: No. I grew up pretty much around Jacksonville. Andrea: So are you a surfer girl…a beach girl? Maryland: Oh yeah. But I am so light skinned, I had to really limit my exposure to the sun. Thank God I did because in those days we didn’t realize how much melanoma damage to the skin was permanent. But it hurt me too bad. I turned red and blistered. I never tanned. I bet you tanned. You have got good color for it. Andrea: Yeah. I lived in South Carolina for 22 years though. Maryland: What part? Andrea: Beaufort. It is the same county as Hilton Head. Maryland: Oh yeah. I know where Hilton Head is. Andrea: Everyone knows that. So it is the southern tip. About 40 minutes from the Georgia border. Yes. I stay a little bit yellow now. I don’t get tan. Maryland: You know, I like to go down to that part of the country during peach season. People up here don’t know what a good peach is…or what good seafood is. Andrea: Oh I know. I was going to say the shrimp. I miss the shrimp so bad, and the crab. Maryland: This friend of mine…we grew up together, we were sort of like sisters. We are a select family rather than a born family. And every time she comes up to visit me, she brings me a big mess of shrimp. You know, ninety-five cents, a dollar, a dollar-anda-half pound of jumbos. And I figure, I told her you pay $15 a pound for these little doodads. Andrea: So from college did you enter the Navy? Maryland: Yeah, I went in the Navy when I got out of College, and I enjoyed that very much. It was a good experience. There were some things about it that were bad because I saw little kids that got shot and hurt. In the hospital ship you take in a lot of people. Even though we were a big white hospital ship with a big red cross on it they would still drop bombs at the end of the ship. And it was clearly marked a hospital. You know a big white ship with a red cross on it is not hard to miss. So we had some of that. ©Sisters of Charity Archives �7 We had a crew of about 840, and we had major operating rooms and all of that. It was just a hospital floating, treating people that needed it. Andrea: What did you do on the hospital ship? Maryland: Really for that particular business, I was trained by the Navy for it, I was a med tech. A medical technologist. I would cross type and cross match blood and do blood counts and stuff like that. But I went through what they call a hospital core school in the Navy. And if we were in Dayton I could show you… Oh, you don’t need to see all of that … It shows you how you graduated from this to this to this, and I worked my way up till I got to go to Washington and do…which at that time was very high on guard…a training in a bone and eye bank because at that time was really just getting started. So that was interesting to me. Just to collapse all of that that was a part of my experience as I went through. Andrea: What made you join the Navy? The war? Maryland: Well, my family. My brothers and everybody were in the service, and I just felt like I owed my country a debt. Andrea: That is unusual for a woman to feel that way at that time. Maryland: I knew some women that felt that same way. And then I got a commission which made my life very pleasant. I became a lieutenant commander. But it was…I met nice people. There was none of this harassment that people talk about. That must be the later military for women because in those days if you got a little scrambled egg on your pot, and anybody messes with you, they are dead meat. But I never met any men that were disrespectful. I did date a guy when I was in the Navy that I liked a lot. Bill Einsford was his name. You know it was just a good part of my life. I enjoyed it. Andrea: That was a different time. People treated people differently. Maryland: I think women at that time perhaps went in it for a different set of motives. I don’t know that that is true. I never researched it in theory code. I think some of the younger people now maybe they are husband hunting, or career hunting. Or just looking for a place to anchor. Andrea: That might be their only opportunity. A lot of them. Maryland: And maybe it is their path to more education. I don’t think nowadays they have the GI Bill. I did. I had some GI Bill benefits. That is what I used at Notre Dame. For every month you are in, you got so much money when you went to college. Andrea: I think they still do that. Because I know that is the reason a lot of people enter. Maryland: Good because young people deserve it. This business now is a whole lot different now. I hate to see our young people going to Afghanistan. I want to get them out of there. Andrea: So how long were you in the Navy? Maryland: About five years, and I stayed in the reserves. And I was finishing my master's degree, and one of the scrimmages came along, and I forget now what it even was, but I got this notice that they were going to put me back on active duty. ”Dear God, ©Sisters of Charity Archives �8 if you just let me get out of this, I will get out of the Navy altogether." And I did. I got out. I didn’t want to interrupt my education at that point. So I made it through and got out. Andrea: Do you remember what year that was? Maryland: Was that Korea? It could have been because I was in part of Korea. What scrimmage came before Korea? There was so many of those little ones. I don’t remember. Andrea: Well, that is okay. So you got out of the Navy and finished up your master's degree? Maryland: Yes I finished my master's and my Ph.D. Andrea: Oh, you went right through? Maryland: No. I took time off in between each degree to make money. I got a scholarship for most all of my colleges, so I was not building up a lot of debt which helped. And then when I got my Ph.D. I had three very good offers for total scholarships. And although I am a Catholic at that time, I had never attended a Catholic college. So when Notre Dame offered me a good deal, and they did, I went to Notre Dame because I loved Notre Dame, Number One. Andrea: That would be hard to turn down, a scholarship to Notre Dame. Maryland: It sure turned me on to football. In football season people know not to call me when Notre Dame is playing. Andrea: That is fun, a fun school to cheer for. It has lots of fans outside of its own alumni even. Maryland: Yeah, the underground alumni of Notre Dame which are people who have never gone to Notre Dame, but they are dedicated fans. And what’s his name was there the year I was…while I was there. Rudy. I did not know him, but he was there when I was there because I was there…I think I was teaching in 1975. But then he went, and five of his brothers followed pursuit. And he worked very hard to survive at Notre Dame. They started him off in a little community college across the road to see if he could build up his grades. That was an interesting story. I knew Father Hesburgh which was a big honor. He is quite a man. Very charismatic. Andrea: I don’t know who that is. Maryland: Hesburgh. He is the most famous president of Notre Dame that ever existed. And he became very important in world peace and in big committees that controlled the city that was about important political issues. Hesburgh was one of our big, big leaders…religious leaders. But he was respected as a politician and a leader, not just as a Catholic priest or a priest of any kind. So my degree has his name on it which I am honored to have. Andrea: So after you got your Master’s or your Ph.D. where did you head? Maryland: I did mostly teaching after that. ©Sisters of Charity Archives �9 Andrea: At Notre Dame? Maryland: Yeah, I taught at…Well, I left Notre Dame for a while because they are not inclined to inbreed. If you graduated from there, they want you to go away for a while and get seasoned. Well I did. I went to… Well, let’s see, where did I go? I can’t remember now. But wherever I was, a friend of mine committed suicide. And the guy that was the head of the department, Andy Wreikiert, who was a friend of mine, called me and asked me if it would be possible for me to come and pick up where he left off. They wanted somebody who could work with the students who could face it. His suicide blew my mind. Well anyway, I did go back, and I taught, and I ended up that time staying there for quite a while. In the meantime I am getting involved with the Sisters of Charity at Notre Dame, and so I kept getting deeper into that. And there was a Sister, I doubt that you know her, that I ended up working with. We were actually a team, employed at Notre Dame…Sister Maria Garlock. And she was the head of the graduate women’s living quarters…rooms and so on. It was a little place that had little apartments and little houses. And so she hired me to be her assistant which helped me because I was going through getting my degree. So that helped me, and that is how I began to get involved with the Charities. Andrea: So she was the one that kind of brought you… Maryland: She was a walking saint if there ever was one. I never in my life heard one word against her. And that is unusual, especially with catty women religious groups. But Maria was just a fabulous human being. Unfortunately, she died of Alzheimer’s. And it runs in her family. She had another sister who had it, two brothers. Andrea: Wow. That is too bad. So were you about the same age? Maryland: Yeah, I think Maria was about four or five years older than me…three or four or something like that, but I became very close with her family, and her nephew and I are still good friends. He comes to my house. He works for Channel 9 in Dayton. He will come sometimes when he is on that side of town doing a story and park that big van out there, and my neighbors would call and say what is going on with Channel 9? I have nice neighbors in Dayton. We have a sort of a little community there. There are Sisters in the houses all along—[Sherwood Drive],…and they are little houses. You would be hard pressed to live with-- You might get by with two if you are good friends. But you couldn’t get beyond that because they are just little houses. And they like to rent to the Sisters because we pay our rent, and we take care of the property. So we have what we call the Sherwood Community, Sherwood Drive Community. And it is just about… Let’s see…Donna [Collins] is a Sister of Charity, then my real close friends, Sister Dee, Fritz and Phyllis. They are a different community, but they are very special people to us. And then there is me, and there is a nifty house that the squirrels live in. This doctor, well, he owns, and he won’t rent it, but the squirrels live in it. They don’t bother me. And then there is another Sister. I doubt that you would know her name or I would call it…Corrine Schmidt, you don’t know her do you? Terry Dery… Andrea: I do know that name. ©Sisters of Charity Archives �10 Maryland: Terry is a [Dayton] councilor, so you might know her. Terry Dery and. . . Andrea: Is that where Katie Hoelscher and Fran [Flynn]. . . ? Maryland: Yes. Katie. Isn’t she here right now getting therapy? Andrea: Yes, she has moved here. She is on the Third Floor Respite. Maryland: I see her every now and then when I come for physical therapy. Katie is an absolutely wonderful lady. Andrea: Yeah, I love Katie: Maryland: It grieves me that… You know she broke those legs a long time ago. Andrea: I didn’t realize that she had done that. She just had a back surgery procedure, and she is doing something else. Maryland: She fell and broke both of those legs years ago, and that was the beginning of problems for her. But she is… I just have the deepest respect and liking for her. Andrea: She was the principal at Alter. Maryland: Oh yeah, she was, wasn’t she? Let’s see…you knew Fran Flynn then. I was grieved at her death. She suffered some though before. Andrea: Yeah, a long time. That was so sad. Maryland: She was a gift to the Community. All and all, I think we have a pretty marvelous group of women. Andrea: I am certainly impressed with the more I learn and the more Sisters I get to know. It is amazing. Maryland: Yes, the kindness and the caring. They are genuinely women of God. Andrea: They really are. The service that this group of women has done from the beginning is just amazing. Maryland: I am glad your experience with the Charities has been so good too. Andrea: Well I have relatives that I... Maryland: …that are in the Community? Andrea: Kateri Koverman is my second cousin. Maryland: Kateri is a buddy of mine. Andrea: Is she? Maryland: Yeah. Andrea: She is my second cousin. And Sister Mary Joseph…she died in 2010…Koverman…she was a teacher. Maryland: I might need to see her face to remember her. ©Sisters of Charity Archives �11 Andrea: Then I had two great aunts…when I was a little girl...Mary Walburga and Mary Naomi. Maryland: No, I knew Mary Naomi’s name. Well, how did we miss you? Andrea: Well, here I am now. Better late than never. Maryland: Well, you are not late. Andrea: No, I don’t think so comparatively speaking. Maryland: In the old days they used to call it a delayed vocation. I called it a little later call from the Lord. Andrea: That is a good way to say it. I would say I am a late bloomer. I took the long way home. Maryland: The Lord just waited a while to give me a full call, but he has been telling me all along, "Come on, come on." Andrea: I had some other things to do first I guess. Maryland: You know. I really kind of felt that way. I didn’t want to do it. I said, "Not me, Lord. I am not for that kind of life," you know, and I just went on for a few years and was pulled back and forth, and finally, whatever you want to call it, an opening or something, I just thought I have to do this. I can’t fight it any longer. Andrea: Yeah, that is kind of how I felt. And, you know, you try to figure it out, but you are not going to know until you try. And I finally said, "I will go try," and you just keep moving along. Maryland: And if you start sounding like "Oh, I have been called," people think you are a nut of some sort. But the call is in the heart, in here. Andrea: Yeah, and it is not a voice. Maryland: No. It is just, like what you said. This is what you do. And it is not a big awakening or trumpets don’t play. Andrea: Right. I noticed, and I can’t remember who I was talking to, but I said something about when I enter instead of if I enter. And someone said, "Did you hear what you just said?" Like part of me had already decided. Maryland: The decision was there. The Lord has an interesting way of giving us his messages. I found out it is all right to be mad at God. He can handle it. And I say when you get really mad you want to tell the Lord. Tell him you are fed up with this. Andrea: Yeah. There is plenty of reason to get angry in this world. Maryland: And the Lord can handle , so take it to him. Andrea: Right. Okay. So your friend Sister Maria Garlock introduced you to the Community. ©Sisters of Charity Archives �12 Maryland: Well, when I ended up being her assistant director of the women’s housing, then that is when I met… Maria introduced me to people I doubt you know, John Miriam Jones. You know her? Andrea: Oh yeah. Maryland: Then the one out West. The other Sister. Andrea: Is she still out there? Maryland: Yes. She lives with Gasdorf. I need my directory. That’s what I need to keep my mind… Andrea: The little blue one? Maryland: Yeah, that one. I have been out of touch with these people so long I don’t recall their name. Now Annina you know. Annina is a good friend of mine. Andrea: Annina is a wonderful person. Maryland: Annina is going to outlive God. Andrea: Isn’t she amazing? Maryland: She is amazing. And she is no dull gal either. Andrea: Oh my gosh, she doesn’t forget anything. She is amazing. Maryland: Here is Kateri. Kateri Maureen Koverman. She is in 319 here. Did you know that? Andrea: Yeah. I am on the page in front. I was looking to see if my name was on there, and I am right there. Maryland: Oh, okay. Let me see your pen. So you actually have the Koverman name. Andrea: Yes. Maryland: You know Kateri did some wonderful things. Andrea: Yes, she is inspirational. Maryland: Isn’t she the one that did the [Vietnam baby] airlift? I mean, that is historical. You know the last time I saw her though, which has been maybe three years, I was a little worried about her. She didn’t look so good. Andrea: She had just had a stroke. Maryland: Yes, she did. She had that stroke. Is she holding her own? Andrea: Well, she actually just had another one about four or five months ago. But she moved her Them Bones Veteran Community in the Motherhouse now, so she is starting to get back into it. So she is doing okay. Maryland: She has done such wonderful things you know. I hate to hear that she is having… Well, that is part of getting old you know, just keep crashing and crashing. ©Sisters of Charity Archives �13 Andrea: I am trying to think of the other Sisters I know from the West. Linda Chavez is one. Maryland: Yeah. I know Linda very well. This Sister's name…she was regional for…she was head of the Community when I was out West and decided to join the Sisters of Charity. She was the one I went to talk about it with. And I just love her dearly. She steps back from…she doesn’t want to be in the limelight… Jane Grosheider and this other friend of Grosheider’s. She is not a person I am terribly crazy about, the other one, so I don’t remember her name. Andrea: Okay. So you had to leave Notre Dame to become a Novice? Maryland: Yeah, that is when I got all turned on to it. Really, it just came like taking a breath. You know it was just that easy and natural to me. Andrea: That is really nice. Maryland: And it was you know…because when I came in I was pretty well off financially. And Betty Finn and Annina used to say to me, "Well, how is it going to feel not to have any money?" And I said, "Well, I think I will make it." So they made me the treasurer and shopper of Bayley, and I had to do…we all had a stint at it. But I did it, and they said, "Now you know you are used to having all the money you want to have and everything," but by the end of the month they were begging for treats. I said, "That doesn’t go in the budget," and Betty said, "You could be a little looser Andy." Then she said, "You know, when I was going in and I was used to having money and everything," and I said, "Betty, I had money because I kept a hand on it." Andrea: Yeah right. Not because you spent everything. Maryland: So that was kind of a funny story. But that is really the sum and substance of my story. Andrea: That sums up your story? Maryland: Yeah. I think that tells my story. What more is there to say? How much can you talk about yourself? Andrea: I know it is hard to talk about yourself. Well, if you can’t think of anything else you would like to add. . . Maryland: I am just an ordinary old Sister of Charity. I never wanted leadership in the Community. I never put myself in position to be running for it. If people asked me, I would say no because by that time I just didn’t want that. I just wanted to be me. I had enough leadership in my younger life that I didn’t have any ambitions to run the world. Andrea: Yeah, that is true. You did. Maryland: Although I admire the women who have been doing that for us. We have had some noble leaders, some great leaders. Andrea: Well, did you go back into teaching after you became a Sister of Charity? Maryland: Yeah. I did. I taught over at our College for several years, and then I got out of that teaching and opened up an office of grant resources for the Community to see if ©Sisters of Charity Archives �14 we could get some Sisters to go through it, and we could get them some grants, and it really didn’t work out very well. For one thing they kind of…they didn’t really know what to do with it. Andrea: I think they have probably gotten better at that now or some of them, some of the agencies. Maryland: I mean they didn’t know what to do with an offer for help. You know, they were just used to doing it on their own. And in those days they weren’t doing all that good, but they are now. I mean they are much better at it. They got more sophisticated with it. As your needs…like the Seton Family Center, I started out helping her, and she appreciated the help. But she built that thing on her own efforts. And we have a lot of Sisters that have done that, you know. They are gusty ladies, and they get out there, and they want to do something, and they do it. Andrea: Yeah, it is great. How did you end up in Dayton? Maryland: How did I end up in Dayton? Oh, I was teaching at the Mount, and Sister Maria and I shared one of the Community apartments on Rapid Run, and we were both at the College. When Sister Maria… Jean Patrice [Harrington] called Sister Maria and asked her to come from the West and work at the College, and Maria said okay she would. We talked about it, and I said, "Okay if that is what is going to be a good ministry for you, take it." And then about a week later after Maria said she would. Jean Patrice called me and asked me if I would teach at the Mount. So I went to the Mount when Maria did, and we lived in that… It was the first apartment building the Community ever bought. Maryanna Coyle and I went looking together. And we took one of those apartments in one of the buildings, and we lived there and taught at the College for a good while. And then Maria was asked to go to Dayton, and not long after that I was invited to Dayton, and so we got a house that the [Good Samaritan] Hospital owned and lived in it. Andrea: You got invited to Dayton to do what? Maryland: Just to…what did I do? I had another job. It wasn’t in the Community. God, I don’t remember. It was starting some program for something…the Hubert Foundation. I was doing some work with the Hubert Foundation. Joann, Hubert’s wife, is [not] a comember of our Community. Ed Hubert . . .; she is a very…she graduated from the Mount, and she was a student of mine and a lovely lady; he is very rich, so he can move in and out of circles. I have gotten money out of him for programs. Andrea: Well, that is good. Maryland: Yeah. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Andrea: So you have been in Dayton ever since? Maryland: Pretty much so. I like Dayton very much. I don’t like Cincinnati. Andrea: Really? Why not? Maryland: I just never have liked Cincinnati. It is a big dirty city to me. East hates West, and they have got all of this politics going on. Get over it, honey. ©Sisters of Charity Archives �15 Andrea: Yeah. It took me a long time to figure out what people were even talking about the East and West. Maryland: Yeah, and you know Delhi kind of died. I taught at the College, and I lived right up the hill from the College at those apartments on…they kind of sit back…let me see who lives there. Andrea: Not the Rapid Run ones? Maryland: Yeah. Up off of Rapid Run [Anderson Ferry].Ruth and Victoria live there. Andrea: And I think Joyce Richter. Maryland: Does Joyce live there? She could. Andrea: The Rapid Run apartments? Maryland: I lived there a couple of times really as I came in and out, but Ruth and Victoria moved about a year-and-a-half ago to get a lower apartment. Ruth has a little problem with her legs as she is aging. Okay. They don’t name it here. It is on Anderson Ferry Road. Andrea: Oh, okay. I think I know what you are talking about. Maryland: That apartment. You hit like you are going to River Road, and it cuts off up in there. Yeah, I lived there for a while in one of those apartments on the backside. That is when I was at the College. Andrea: Well, thank you very much for sharing your story with me. Maryland: There is nothing exciting about my story. It is just an ordinary every day run of the mill kind. Andrea: An ordinary Sister of Charity is an extraordinary kind of a person most likely. That is generally what I am finding out. Maryland: Well, I am awfully glad. When are you going to…when is your next thing occurring? Andrea: My next step you mean? Maryland: Yes. Andrea: Well my………. (end of tape) [apostolic novitiate year is next. ©Sisters of Charity Archives �16 ©Sisters of Charity Archives � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Anderson, Sister Maryland, SC Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Koverman, Sister Andrea, SC Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Audio/mp3 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 49 Minutes 44 Seconds Location The location of the interview Cincinnati (Ohio); Dayton (Ohio) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sister Maryland Anderson, SC Interviewed by Sister Andrea Koverman, SC April 14, 2014 Subject The topic of the resource Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati; Monasticism and religious orders for women -- Catholic Church -- History; Catholic Church --- Education -- United States -- History Description An account of the resource An interview with Sister Maryland Anderson by Sister Andrea Koverman. This recording is a part of the oral history series housed at the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archives. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anderson, Sister Maryland, SC; Koverman, Sister Andrea, SC Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 4/14/2014 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Harvey, Jan (Transcriber) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights, reproduction, and use requests or more information, please contact the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archivist Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Audio/mp3 Application/pdf Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Sister Maryland Anderson, SC Interviewed by Sister Andrea Koverman, SC April 14, 2014 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1983-2014 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archives Oral History Series Education Sister Veterans Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/6295285fcb2710d45f92cfe5bdbe3eed.JPG bb4cf132dcd42f97dbbc1d7dc10f56ef https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/cb213558b2908be6bc99d87bff96b741.mp3 b1e35a112c4d5165940bc308322ce610 https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/57d56d23cccacd2da4db3c5179bbb676.pdf 629207d244a6d9de5f701060e4bbe84e PDF Text Text SISTER RUTH ANN RODY – ORAL HISTORY [Bracketed words, not names, are additions by the Sister upon review.] SVMF: Today is May 19, 2019, and we're here at the Motherhouse, Sister Ruth Ann Rody and I, Sister Victoria Marie Forde, ready to begin her oral history. So, Ruth Ann, what is anything that you want to add about your childhood before you got to the Sisters of Charity, Vincentian Sisters of Charity. SRAR: Well, I had very wonderful, nourishing parents. They always wanted the best for us, they were very loving. And my siblings--I have one sister and three brothers: Christine, who is also a Sister of Charity; my brother, Bill, was the Vice President of the Union Pacific Railroad and is now retired; my brother, Bob, was the Stage Production Manager for Cleveland Playhouse Squares Association, he is also now retired; and my brother, Rusty is the top maintenance man for a tool and dye company. SVMF: So are they all older than you are? Are you the youngest? SRAR: I'm the youngest girl; brother, Rusty is the youngest. My sister is the oldest, and then there's four years between her and my oldest brother, then two years between my oldest brother and my second brother, and two years between my brother and myself, and then five years between myself and my youngest brother, Rusty. SVMF: And you always lived in Cleveland? SRAR: Bedford, born and raised in Bedford, moved from one end of Bedford to the other. SVMF: So tell me about your life before you entered the Sisters. �SRAR: Well, I entered twice. SVMF: Now that's an interesting point. SRAR: I entered right after eighth grade. I can remember as a kid always wanting to be a mother and have twelve kids. And then during grade school I used to help Sister Irene Mraz [Mary Michalene] in the Sacristy and stuff, and we would talk. Sister Maris Stella [Pramik] was another Sister that I used to hang out with. My brothers and I would walk to school, and we'd get there in time to go to Mass, and then after Mass there was time, so we would help the Sisters do different things afterwards until school started. SVMF: So did she talk to you about being a Sister, or no? SRAR: When I was in eighth grade on the weekends I would be at the Rectory and record the envelopes for them and answer the phone.. SVMF: And Christine's already in the convent? SRAR: Yes, she entered when I was eight years old. I entered the first time in 1964 with Dorothy Blatnica. We both entered the same day, and I was four years as an Aspirant. Within that time Lumen Cordium was like the second year that the school was open, but the school wasn't built yet, so they were building the school, and March of my freshman year was when the school was done, and we moved up to the school. SVMF: So then if you were there four years, you graduated then? SRAR: I graduated from Lumen Cordium, yes. [1968] SVMF: As an Aspirant? �SRAR: Yes, for all four years I was an Aspirant. SVMF: You're in class with all the kids? SRAR: Yes, we were treated just like the other girls. It's just that when they would go home, we would go back to the convent. SVMF: Did you dress differently? SRAR: Yes, we did until our senior year, I think. It was like a dress, and we wore black stockings and black shoes, the granny-type shoes. And we had to wear colors. To go to school we had a dark navy blue. We had a tan-colored one that we would clean in, and then light gray color. We had like little tammys that we wore for church. And of course the tammy was always in the opposite end of the building, so you had to run and get your tammy and then run back to church to chapel. SVMF: Were there a lot of you in your class? SRAR: There were 32 in the whole Novitiate, but there were different classes. SVMF: Really, from the eighth grade on? SRAR: Yes, there were six canonical novices or novices. Then there were four seniors. Then there were four juniors. This is my freshman year, there were six of us, my freshman year, and four sophomores. SVMF: So you all lived together became friends and all that? �SRAR: We had dormitories that we lived in. SVMF: Once they were novices, then they moved out? SRAR: It was the old mansion before they tore the mansion down and added the new section. It was a big dormitory that we lived in. and we had a big, large room is what it was. SVMF: What about summertime? SRAR: We went home for the summers. SVMF: Oh, did you? But you came back every time. SRAR: Right. We came back at the end of August or in the middle of August. SVMF: When you went home, then you could just dress normal? SRAR: Yes. SVMF: How interesting. Okay, so then what happened after you graduated? SRAR: After I graduated, the Community sent the rest of us home. Halfway through my senior year I should have become a Postulant and then that summer I should have become a Novice, but instead Mother Joseph [Slavik] came into the study hall and told us that we were all going to be dismissed and not to come back in September. They were disbanding the Novitiate at that point. SVMF: Did she give you any reasons? �SRAR: No, no reason was given. So then Sister Mary Phillip [Maceyko] started the external Associate program to try to keep those vocations alive. We would meet once a month for a weekend, and we would have a mini-retreat kind of thing, and she would have different speakers come in, and we would do different stuff. Then I don't k now what happened, but then she disbanded that also. So, we were supposed to leave for a year and then come back to what was originally started, but I, at that point I was pretty angry with God. I figured if God didn't want me I didn't want any part of God. SVMF: That sounds logical. That's a pretty drastic thing. SRAR: Within that time like I never gave up on prayer, I never gave up because my heart of hearts was with Jesus, was with Christ. And I couldn't see not receiving Eucharist. So that's one of the things that kept me going, and my sister was still in the convent. We would talk and stuff when I would go and see her. When I graduated from high school I went to Marymount School of Practical Nursing and was in practical nursing school when my mom was sick, and basically I was taking care of her and not studying, and so I basically flunked out of nursing school. But I started working at Brentwood Hospital in Warrensville Heights, Ohio. It's up by the Thistledown Race Track. It’s a suburb of Cleveland. So I started working there. I was an aide, and the nurses kept encouraging me to go back to school. So I started at Cuyahoga Community College the Western campus and got into the Nursing program and there became a nurse in 1974. I met my friend, Lenny Piechowsky, and we were dating for a while, and then he said, "You know I have something to tell you." And I thought, "Oh, Gees, here we go." And he said, "I really want to become a priest." So he entered the Franciscans, the Sacred Heart Province, went off to school in Quincy Illinois. And so the one summer he didn't have a way to get back. They were free to come home during the summer and basically get jobs and work to pay for their tuition �and stuff. And so I went out to Quincy to pick him up and met Michael Casuto, and with hanging out with them I met the Wheaton Franciscans. So I was looking at the Wheaton Franciscans, and I went and spent a weekend with them, which was a real trip. We [my friend Sue DeSanTIS left after work, so Wheaton is a suburb of Chicago. And so we got through and the directions they forgot to put down a route to take, so we ended up in Wisconsin and called them and said, "I think we must have turned somewhere." So then they told us how to go, and we got in about 1:00 instead of 10:00. But it was a really good weekend and I thought, Okay. SVMF: So who is "we?" SRAR: My roommate[Sue DeSantis] and I. SVMF: She was interested too? SRAR: No, we were good friends from work. SVMF: She went with you. SRAR: Yes, so we went together just so I would have someone to go with. After the visit I thought that's it, you know. They worked with the poor, and they were all thing--s knowing Vincent and Louise their charism was the closest thing without going back to the Vincentians because they didn't want me, so why should I want them now? At this point Chris was in El Salvador so it had to be the late 70s. SVMF: We can check. SRAR: I entered in '78, so it was like between '74 and '78. SVMF: You mean after you went to visit the Wheaton Franciscans and she's in El Salvador, so how did you get back to the Vincentians? �SRAR: She came home for a summer visit, and I took Christine, Marjorie Grudowski and Petronella [Huzichka], the three of them out for lunch. Well, they were talking about the Community, and how it was changing, and how they were getting more involved with social issues, you know. And after that luncheon I thought, you know (had to be' 78 because end of '77 –'78). So for all the reasons I was going to move to Chicago were right here, you know. And so Marjorie at that point was the Directress of Novices, Formation Director, I should say. And so I thought, "Well," so I went out and called Marjorie and started talking to her, and we had lunch, you know, and I started looking at them, and they asked their questions, and finally decided to enter. So my decision for that was like February 16 I believe because I was at Mass, and I stayed after Mass just to pray because I didn't want to fight the people in the parking lot. And Father Benji, I don't remember his last name, and said to me, "Oh, you must be holy." I said, "Oh, I don't think so. Just listen to one of my confessions, and you'll know I'm not holy." And he said, "Okay, see me." So I made an arrangement to go see him. So he was asking me, "Why are you holding back and not going back into religious life?" And I had no reason even though I was seeing Randy at that point, and the relationship should have gone to marriage now, and my question was instead of "Yes, when are we going to get married?" and all that I said, "Oh, I've got to think about this." And I thought that's not really the question that should have happened, that was the question I came up with. So once I had that all over with, Father Benji just said, "I don't understand why you just don't go pursue religious life." And so I was on 480, and there's a section that you're down in like a valley, but it's not just in the way that they constructed it, and you're coming up, and it's like you're taking off in a plane, and I said, "So why aren't you pursuing it?" And I can remember that distinctly, and I know it was February 16, 1978. And then March 29 of 1978 I entered the Vincentian Sisters in Bedford along with Terry Hines. SVMF: So you answered your question. �SRAR: Yes, I answered the question and moved on from there. SVCMF: And said good bye to Randy. SRAR: Yes, and my dad was I n the hospital when I ran into him. His mom was in the hospital also. I ran into him in the hallway, and he said, "Didn't know what I had until you were gone." SVMF: That was a nice complement. SRAR: But then I thought, I'm sort of glad he sees that. He stopped where he was, and it's like he really needs to get a life. It was the right thing to do. SVMF: So now you've entered. Did you have to do anything over again, or did they count anything you had done? SRAR: No, there was ten years between. SVMF: You had to start from scratch? SRAR: Yes. Well, and it was a different time period. Marjorie was the Directress and then. . . . SVMF: Sister Marjorie? SRAR: Grudowski. She's the one that started Pineville. So I went through the Formation process. �SVMF: Were there very many of you together at this time? SRAR: It was just Terry and myself, and Anita Maroun was received into the Community March 15, 1978. Terry and I entered ,Teresa and I entered March 29, 1978. So there were the three of us in Formation. We did an InterCommunity Formation program. That's when we started that. SVMF: So you were with other communities. There were men and women? SRAR: Yes. It was very good, we learned a lot. Terry and I were received into the Community, and were Novices in September. SVMF: So are you still nurses? SRAR: I was a nurse. SVMF: They still let you continue nursing? SRAR: Until my Canonical year. Then I had to quit for my Canonical year. SVMF: There weren't that many nurses in the Community? SRAR: No, there were six. SVMF: That's a good number. SRAR: Margaret Eileen [Golden] was a nurse and was working at Marymount Hospital. I don't know why they asked me, but I became the Community �infirmarian. I know because up to that point I think Sister Mary Alberta [Vitikatch]. When she was older they asked me to take over. SVMF: Did you have many in the infirmary? SRAR: No, there wasn't. I was basically taking care of wellness checks and taking their blood pressure and that. We never really had anybody bedridden until right before they died. So it was fairly easy because I was working 3-11 at the hospital, and during the day I would take care of the Sisters. There were a couple that I helped assist with their baths. SVMF: You were working at the hospital also? SRAR: Yes. SVMF: As well as, the Community infirmarian. So what hospital are you at? SRAR: Brentwood Hospital where I was before. They kept my seniority because I was only gone for 11 months. But I was working 3-11 and taking care of the Sisters in the morning. Days like 7-3 I'd work as the infirmarian and then 3-11 at the hospital. SVMF: Oh, boy, that's a long day. SRAR: Yes. SVMF: You're still young. �SRAR: Yes, but it was great. It kept me on my toes. During the day it was basically taking vital signs, going and talking to them to see what's going on, and if they were feeling okay. SVMF: Half social work. SRAR: Yes. SVMF: So what happened then when you merged? Were you still doing that until we merged? SRAR: No, because I went to Pineville in 1995. SVMF: So how did that happen? SRAR: How did we get to Pineville? SVMF: How did you get there? SRAR: It was already established by Marjorie. I can't remember what year she went. SVMF: We can always fill in the year. SRAR: Well, Marjorie went down in the 80's. And then Elizabeth [Kochik] went down. Marjorie went down, and as she had emergency surgery and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She came back, and I took care of her. She was living at, at this point I was living at Vincent's House, and Marjorie was living with Sister Barbara Ann [Patruchak] at Marillac House. And it got to the point where Barbara Ann needed somebody to watch her or take care of her during the day. �And so I would go over and take care of her during the day. Barbara Ann would come home from school, and I would go to work so that Marjorie wasn't by herself. Well, Barbara Ann and I took care of her until Marjorie died. So at that point Elizabeth was down in Pineville and Sister [Mary] Imelda Sekerak just finished her term as the Community Sister in charge of the Sisters at the Motherhouse. So she asked to go down to Pineville and help. SVMF: What's in Pineville? SRAR: That's what I was trying to say before. In the Sisters Today magazine there was an ad for anybody that would want to teach full time down in Pineville, Kentucky, teach the literacy program. It had to be right after '77 that's when they had the big flood, and the different ministers came together to have the Christian ministerial meeting. And so they put in advertisement in the magazine for Sisters to come down and work in the area. Well, Mary Ann Flannery was the superior at the time, and she found the article, and so she was looking for summer volunteer places for our Sisters. And so she responded to it. But it was, "Let's see, which ones went down for the summer." But they wanted somebody full time, all year. So Marjorie finished her stint as the Formation Director, so she applied for it, and she went down. So she was the first one in Pineville and started the literacy program for Bell County. And then Elizabeth Kochik came back from Salvador and was looking for a ministry so she went down and lived with Marjorie at that point. And then Marjorie came back and died from cancer, and Elizabeth was there. Imelda went down, so I can't remember how old she was when she went down, but she learned how to drive so she could go down. SVMF: That's right, in her 50's. SRAR: Yes, so then Imelda was with Elizabeth. Well then, shortly, had to be '95, Elizabeth had a recurrence of cancer, and she died. So then Imelda was going to �come back because nobody was there with her' and when I was a kid I read Christy, the book about a young woman, who was a teacher and went and worked in the mountains' and I fell in love with the mountains during reading that book' and I had always wanted to go. And so I asked if I could go, and so I moved. SVMF: But when you went down it wasn't just literacy was it? SRAR: No, I went down, and I was working in a nursing home. My first job down there was night shift in a nursing home. SVMF: Is Imelda with you then? SRAR: Yes, I was living with Imelda in the parish house right next to the church. I was working in a nursing home, and then I got a position in home health nursing in Bell county. So that's where I started working, and I love home health. It was really what I wanted with that whole dream of working in the mountains. SVMF: And with the poor. SRAR: Yes, it was just really what I wanted to do. So I was there for 15 years. SVMF: Were you really? SRAR: Yes. SVMF: Well, Imelda came back. SRAR: Yes, Imelda was getting older and losing strength, and she was developing macular degeneration, and she wanted to be living at the Motherhouse before she �went totally blind, so she could get around. So that's why she moved up, and Sister Barbara Philippart came down. SVMF: Yes, she was looking for a place. SRAR: Yes, she was looking, and we an influx of Hispanics in the area from the migrant workers, the migrant farmers. And they started a restaurant, and it grew into three different restaurants, and there was a large Hispanic Community that weren't being taken care of, and they were all going to the Episcopalians because the pastor there knew Spanish. And so I kept putting out for anybody who knew Spanish to come down, and so Barbara came down and did a lot for the Church in Pineville. When I first went down we were less than 1% Catholic in the area and by the time I left we were at 1%. SVMF: That's good. SRAR: Yes, and they did a lot of work, also. Anyway I came back. SVMF: I thought Sister Mary Barbara said they wanted your house where you were living. SRAR: When we were living in the house right next to the church. They moved that house to one of the hollers because they wanted a social building. So they built us a social hall for the church right next to it, so we were renting the First Christian Church's pastor's home. SVMF: The rectory? SRAR: Yes, they don't call it a rectory, their parish house. And so their pastor died, and they were getting a new pastor, and they needed a place for them to live. So they asked us to move because they needed it for their house. So we looked �around, and we couldn't find a place to live in Pineville. There were two apartments that we looked at that were like we were living in a basement. With our arthritis it just wouldn't work out. It was always damp and wet and cold. But we looked at other places, but it was time to go. So then we moved back to Cincinnati. SVMF: You both came to the Motherhouse then? SRAR: No, I was supposed to live with Nancy Crofton on Cleves Warsaw, and her father died the day she moved into that apartment, and so she had a difficult time living in that place because it was always a reminder that her dad died that day that she moved. We had the apartments on Schwartze, so we moved into the apartments on Schwartze, and I stayed there until. . . . SVMF: And you each had your own apartment? SRAR: Yes, and we had two Franciscans that lived there. SVMF: What were you doing for your ministry? SRAR: At that time I was looking for a job, and I had hurt my back in Pineville, so I knew I couldn't do traditional nursing working in the hospital, that this would not work, so I went back to school and became a legal nurse consultant. I tried to look for a job with a lawyer and couldn't find one. I offered services to Legal Aid, but nothing happened there, so in the meantime the Health Resource Center put out a letter that they needed somebody to be their office manager, but it was all volunteer because they didn't have money for the position. So because of our grants I was able to work there and get money for my position with a Community grant. The Health Resource Center is an out-patient psychiatric clinic for the homeless and indigent. SVMF: That's where you are now. �SRAR: That's where I am presently. And I've been there five, six years. I love it. It's working with the homeless and trying to help them. SVMF: And Mary Barbara helps you with the translation sometimes? SRAR: Yes. SVMF: And when did you move to the Motherhouse? SRAR: Well, that's another story. It was three or four years ago. It's when Trish came back from California, Trish Cruise, and started working with Healthy Moms and Babes. Nancy moved out, and that apartment was empty for over a year, and then the two Franciscan sisters retired and moved back to their Motherhouse, so I was the only one living there. So I went to the administration and asked that since the three apartments were empty, could we not open it up for emergency shelter for battered women, and I would be the care taker. And so they talked about it, and at that point Trish was looking for a place for her homeless mothers. And so the Community set everything up and gave it to the Healthy Moms and Babes, and I was fine with Trish. And I was talking with Trish and offered to be the person there, and she said I couldn't do that because it changes the status of being a shelter to being a medical place because I'm a nurse, and that it would change the insurance. So I had to find a place to live. At that point I contacted Cookie [Crowley], and they only had the room that I'm presently living in. So that's when I moved to the Motherhouse. SVMF: Okay, one thing I was thinking is that you went to England sometimes. SRAR: Father Dane was the pastor at St. Jullian's and St. Anthony's, and he retired and moved back to England and took care of his mom. And Judith Ann [Ansberry], Imelda and I and a friend from Pineville went to England, stayed with him, and he gave us the English tour of England. It was really nice. I also was one of the lucky �ones, this is while we were still Vincentians, who won the Federation retreat in France where St. Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac ministered. We started out in Pouy, where he was born, and then did that whole retreat, and we ended up in Paris at the Motherhouse at the Rue de Bac. SVMF: Who directed that retreat? SRAR: Sister Louise, she was a Daughter of Charity. It was really wonderful, just amazing. SVMF: I know Judy had one, and I'm still sorry to this day that I didn't sign up for that one. SRAR: It was just awesome to walk where Vincent and Louise walked, it was just amazing. And then Rue de Bac seeing their bodies and their chapels. SVMF: If you think of anything else, we can always add it. I usually ask people if they'd like to say anything about….What do you think about the Community right now, future or the Church? SRAR: I think it's a time of wonder. It's exciting in the sense that we're living through historical pieces of where to go and how to get there. SVMF: Are you talking about both the Community and the Church? SRAR: Just the different the changes from the first time I entered until now, so different. Somewhere more positive, it's a Church of hope. I see it as being more responsive to the People of God. Not so black and white, so condemning, it's more like when Jesus started the Church, humbly, and with love. It's an exciting time. �SVMF: I'm glad you see it that way. And then we have this big Federation meeting coming in Chicago, where all the Sisters from all different Charity communities are going to meet. That's exciting. That's coming up. SRAR: Being part of the Federation during Formation is really,-- that's when I was in Formation-- that's when they began it, and it all began. We got involved with it, I should say. And it's just a real exciting time. Anita and I kept saying while we were in Formation that people are talking about that there aren't any leaders in the Community, and people were starting to recycle their leadership. And I said, "You're not teaching the young people to be leaders." I said, "How do you expect them to be leaders if you don't teach them." So I was so happy when they had the Federation Leadership involvement for young Sisters, 65 and under or 60 and under. SVMF: And then that other meeting where we had the young people. SRAR: Well, I guess it's my own little idiosyncrasy. I don't like the term "younger Sister and older Sister". . . . SVMF: It's like a distinction. SRAR: It's new Formation because even the younger Sisters are 50. So it's like at 69, I'm still a younger Sister. I could be a great-grandmother by now. SVMF: That's so interesting that you think it's exciting. I think that's really hopeful and optimistic. I do a lot of oral histories, and I didn't hear too many people say, "It's exciting at this time." SRAR: Oh yes, I mean it's wide open to adventure. The Gospel is alive and living, and we have the opportunity to make it more apparent to people. �SVMF: And then in your ministry you're seeing that. SRAR: Yes, I am. SVMF: It's very hopeful to hear what your ministry is too. SRAR: Well, it also gives Sisters who are Motherhouse-bound opportunity because they give me money towards helping the poor, and so I just now started buying gift cards from Kroger so that they have food because they always run out of food at the end of the month because there's more month than money. That way they can pick out what they want. We also have started a little pantry for our clients, and we have like spaghetti sauce and spaghetti, and then I get little cans of chicken in a can or tuna, some kind of protein so that they have protein because otherwise they are eating carbohydrates. They need to eat protein, and then canned fruit and vegetables, so that they have sort of a balanced meal even though it's all processed food. But you can't keep a fresh ham in the pantry without it smelling! SVMF: Oh, and the other thing we should mention in your oral history especially is your baking and your cooking like for the Mardi Gras. It seems that the group is dependent on you to make those special cookies that take two days to make for example and some other good meals that you and Mary Alice [Stein] and Judith [Ann Asberry] have made for our Area. SRAR: If I had more stamina, I would probably bake and cook more often. SVMF: But you're doing it, and it creates community. I think that's so important here, or else we'd all just be in our rooms without community. SRAR: Well, I entered Community to be community. �SVMF: Yes, I think we all did. SRAR: I have a difficult time with people who don't like, don't love Community. It's like, "Why did you enter? Or" why are you still here?" SVMF: So that's why it's so important to have community, and you've helped create a lot of it. Thank you. SRAR: I hope so. SVMF: Well, if there's anything else you want to add, you can always add it. We can either tape it or we can write it, or whatever you want if you think of something, or if something comes to mind. But for now I thank you very, very much. It was very interesting, an unusual journey that you have had, especially entering twice. SRAR: We didn't talk about the merger. SVMF: Oh, that's right. SRAR: That was the whole time from entrance until the time we merged there was, "What are we going to do? How are we going to do it?" For me it was, I guess the whole thing was exciting because it was like the charism and our mission was so important that we didn't want it to die. So how were we going to keep it alive? That's when we went through that whole process. We did a Community retreat, and it was on the lake at the Cleveland retreat house right on Lake Erie. And the whole week the lake was really rough, and in fact there were sometimes three- to five-foot waves. I mean it was really rough, and then the day that we made our decision and unanimously voted to merge with the Sisters of �Charity, it was like glass. It was so calm. It was like if you didn't believe in the Spirit, all you had to do was watch the lake. It was just marvelous. You knew it was of God. For me and a few others, we've talked about it, and it's been the best thing that we could have done. SVMF: And at our end, you know, there wasn't any suggestion of anything but, "Of course." We met you, we had to learn about you for a couple of years I think. And then vote: "Of course." SRAR: And then the blessing of our memories was a beautiful ceremony. And then we were without vows for an hour! SVMF: You could have left. SRAR: We could have gone off to town and not had to worry about any stuff. And then the ceremony coming down was the way we used to do the ceremonies for Reception and Profession. We had the coming down to the Shrine, and down the Shrine steps to proclaim. SVMF: I was there for that, and that was very powerful. SRAR: It was, yes, yes. And four of the Sisters, they moved to the Motherhouse at that point. They were free of any of the history was with them. They began a new life and really became new people. So it was a wonderful experience. SVMF: For us too. We appreciate it; it was a gift for us. Well, thank you again. That was very powerful, a wonderful oral history. And if you think of anything else, just let me know, and we'll add it. I think you've really given us a lot of information, a lot of what you feel which is interesting. It's not just facts. Thank you very much. �SRAR: You're welcome. SVMF: Is there anything you would like to add before we finish? SRAR: I truly believe in Divine Providence because God always gets me where I am supposed to be when I'm supposed to be there. That's how I've felt on all the jobs I've been and met the people I'm supposed to meet, and helped them along the way. And they helped me along the way. SVMF: Do you want to add that Myers Briggs thing on the flexibility? SRAR: You were talking about that you have to wait to get this oral history transcribed. On the Myers Briggs I'm an ENFP, so I'm high in not having to have things finished. That's why I can make a quilt that takes 12 years! I took a flexibility test on rigid or flexible, and I'm off the grid on flexibility, and the psychiatrist that was administering the test said that he's never met anybody so flexible on the test, that I was off the grid. SVMF: Ah, that's great. That's a blessing for all of us. Well, again, if you think of anything else, we just push the button. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Forde, Sister Victoria Marie, SC Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Rody, Sister Ruth Ann, SC Location The location of the interview Cincinnati (Ohio); Cleveland (Ohio) Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Audio/mp3 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 56 Minutes 41 Seconds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sister Ruth Ann Rody, SC Interviewed by Sister Victoria Marie Forde, SC May 19, 2019 Subject The topic of the resource Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati; Monasticism and religious orders for women -- Catholic Church -- History; Nursing--United States--History Description An account of the resource An interview with Sister Ruth Ann Rody by Sister Victoria Marie Forde. Sister Ruth Ann discusses her attempt to enter religious life with the VIncentian Sisters of Charity of Bedford, Ohio during the renewal period following Vatican II as well as her work in nursing, primarily in home health care. The Vincentian Sisters of Charity of Bedford, Ohio were a Catholic congregation of Women Religious. Founded on September 4, 1928, when five Sisters arrived from Pittsburgh in response to an invitation from Cleveland’s Archbishop Joseph Schrembs, the Sisters who arrived were originally members of the Vincentian Sisters of Charity of Pittsburgh (founded in 1902). They received the full support of the community to embark on this new spiritual journey in Bedford. The Community did not officially become an autonomous congregation until February 19, 1939. On that day, 44 Sisters took vows as Vincentian Sisters of Charity of Bedford, Ohio. The Archbishop requested that this diocesan community focus on ministering to Cleveland’s Slovak community. This was eventually achieved through ministerial works in a variety of parishes in the Cleveland and Youngstown dioceses, primarily in the fields of elementary education, health care, and domestic service. At its height, the community had 150 members in 1965 and, at that time, were involved in over 20 schools, hospitals, and community organizations. In 2004, the community identified a shared Charism (vision of mission), Vincentian spirituality, and ministry focus with the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati; on June 27th of that year, they merged officially and the remaining Vincentian Sisters, including Sister Ruth Ann, became Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. This recording is a part of the oral history series housed at the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archives. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rody, Sister Ruth Ann, SC; Forde, Sister Victoria Marie, SC Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archives Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archives Oral History Series Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 5/19/2019 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Laverty, Jackene (Transcriber) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights, reproduction, and use requests or more information, please contact the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archivist. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Audio/mp3 Application/pdf Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Sister Ruth Ann Rody, SC Interviewed by Sister Victoria Marie Forde, SC May 19, 2019 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950-2019 Healthcare Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Vincentian Sisters of Charity of Bedford Ohio https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/c501074bb1e267bf10d86c281bb33db0.jpg d43468ab3d80b26ac16069ade021d925 https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/f29fc2c7f9ed96551fc325b64641a5e4.mp3 40db3f9ff0fc561ec995da25272a7e63 https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/b42296bc642a9228b3d4d4426c5dfd23.pdf 72332bc44d7c96d8c627306ab00b73ce PDF Text Text Interviewer: Interviewee: Date: Editor: Date edited: Sister Mary Teresa Orbegozo, SC Sister Teresa Miriam Beschel, SC January 1980 Sister Noreen Neary, SC November 30, 2020 Sr. Mary Teresa: So, Sister, what year did you enter in the community? Sr. Teresa Miriam: I entered on September 8th, 1922. Sr. Mary Teresa: Now, what was the community doing at that time? Sr. Teresa Miriam: Well, I had been all through grammar school with the Sisters of Charity. And then I was with the Dominicans at St. Mary's Academy for high school. Sr. Mary Teresa: What name do you take as a religious name? What name do you... Sr. Teresa Miriam: Well, my name isn't much different from my baptismal name. I was baptized Teresa Maria, but I asked for the name of Sister Teresa Miriam and it was given to me on Christmas night. At midnight Mass we received the habit in 1922. Sr. Mary Teresa: I understand that you went to China, can you explain a little bit of the mission of China in the year that you left the United States? Sr. Teresa Miriam: The call came for volunteers for China through the Passionist priests in [Union City, New Jersey], who had a mission there at the time, and [Mother Mary Alexandrine Jackson] sent a letter to all the missions asking for volunteers and telling them what the situation was because the Sisters of Charity hadn't gone into foreign missions at that time. I was a novice at that time, so that was 1924. So I had no intention of being interested in going to China. But Sister Marie Devota Ross, who had been in the novitiate a year before me, had just been professed that year; she always had the desire of going to the foreign missions. One time I asked her, "How do you ever expect to get to the foreign missions from the Sisters of Charity?" And she says, "Well, I always hoped that they'd expand." Then here, right after she was professed, she applied and was one of the 200 that made the application and she was accepted, that was just a month after she was professed. �Sr. Mary Teresa: So it caught my attention when you said 200 sisters volunteered to go to China… Sr. Teresa Miriam: That's right. Sr. Mary Teresa: That was a beautiful spirit that they show. Sr. Teresa Miriam: And five were accepted. I believe then when they brought the number down some, their names were put in the chalice before the final selection. And then the selection was Sister Mary Finan Griffin, who was the supervisor of the operating room in [Saint Elizabeth Hospital in Elizabeth, New Jersey] and she was the superior. And [Sister Maria Electa McDermott] and Sister Maria Loretta Halligan, Sister Patricia Rose Hurley, and Sister Marie Devota Ross, they were the first band that went to China. Sr. Mary Teresa: So when do you go, Sister? When do you leave? Sr. Teresa Miriam: I was in the second band. I was at Convent the summer that word come that Sister Marie Devota Ross had died of cholera. That was July 29th, 1932. And we had been corresponding and she'd say, "When are you coming to China?" And I would just say, "Oh, sometime." When she died, I said, "Well, I better at least make an effort." So right while I was at Convent that summer, I wrote a letter volunteering to go to China, but there was no answer. And in October a letter went out again, asking for volunteers. I knew I had volunteered earlier, so I did nothing about it. But the week before Christmas, I got a special delivery letter that said I was accepted, and we went in January, the end of January we left Convent. Sr. Mary Teresa: How many of you went? Sr. Teresa Miriam: Five of us went then, and that was Sister Agnes Paula Conefrey, Sister Marie Sebastian Curley, Sister Alma Maria Gilmartin, Sister Mary Carita Pendergast and myself. Sister Electa had been home recuperating from an illness and she was made the sixth sister on our trip to China. It was her second trip. Sr. Mary Teresa: What kind of ministry you had in China? Sr. Teresa Miriam: �Well, they were already established by the first group of sisters. There had been an orphanage, and a catechumenate, and a dispensary. Of course, Sister Finan cared for the dispensary and the visiting of the sick and dispensing of medicine. Sister Patricia Rose was the housekeeper. She overlooked all the needs of the sisters and Sister Devota was the first novice mistress when they had the novice. It was [Sister Marie Therese Tuan]. Sr. Mary Teresa: How would you say that was the experience as a whole, for the community to be in China, to open a new convent for the Sisters of Charity – what that meant for the sisters, for the community as a whole? Sr. Teresa Miriam: Well, I think it was a very wonderful step, I think, and I consider those the best years of my life, when I was in China, both from the work and from the spiritual advantages. Sr. Mary Teresa: So tell me more about that growth that you experienced while you were there. Sr. Teresa Miriam: I have the tape upstairs of the progression of the years, what happened during the years I was... When we were first there, Sister Agnes Paula told me to take care of the financial end, and it was quite an experience to work with the currency, Chinese [unintelligible] and the coppers and all their money, and then transfer it into American amounts. I know that they had an old woman who did the buying with the lot on the street, and doing the buying, she would come back and I’d try to find out how she used the money and then not knowing the Chinese myself, it took me a long time to understand that she was getting that [unintelligible] were eggs and [unintelligible] was chicken and [unintelligible] was pork, and [unintelligible] was a vegetable, but it took some time to find out how that one Chinese dollar was spent, and keep a record of it. Sr. Mary Teresa: Were you challenged, the community over there, to follow the spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul? Like by being so far away from the Motherhouse here in the United States? Sr. Teresa Miriam: Oh, we were very conscious of our heritage and the works of Saint Vincent. Our works were very similar certainly to what he performed with the Ladies of Charity over in France. We had the poorest of the poor; we had the beggars at the gate; we had the infants dying of malnutrition. And then of course, we had the education end, between the two different evacuations. Because of the communists the plan was disrupted. There was quite a time of more or less peace, where we weren't hampered with war, but that lasted... Well, we went in [1933] and we, too, were evacuated to Hankou because of communist aggression. Sr. Mary Teresa: When did you come home after… �Sr. Teresa Miriam: We all came home on June 1st, 1951 after the communists had taken over the hospital, the school, and our own convent. We told them we had no place to go, and they said, "Oh, yes, you do. The Catholic church is down on the main street." That was the bishop's house. So that was the only place. So the bishop gave us five rooms upstairs, and we went there. Our own meals were served upstairs and theirs were downstairs. We had our cook, and they had their cook, so it was quite an experience to live. Sr. Mary Teresa: How was the return of the sisters to the community in United States? Do you feel that you had to adjust yourself again to the type of life that the sisters were having here? Sr. Teresa Miriam: When we came back, we were a few days in San Francisco and a Jesuit priest came and visited us on a few occasions. But before we got on the train to come east, he had a talk with all of us there. And he says, "I know, your hearts are all in China." Now he says, "You're going back to your community. You can either worry all about China, or you can put yourself right into the other works that are waiting for you, and you can either make your life happy or else you can just fade away." So I never forgot that. It was so true. Sr. Mary Teresa: How do you find the years in the community, after you just came from China? Was it hard for you and the other sisters to participate in the works of the community? Sr. Teresa Miriam: Mmmm, no. No, no, they gave us a big reception when we came back and we were given the house that's now the novitiate [Harper House, adjacent to Saint Anne Villa]. We were given that from the 1st of June ‘til September. The nine of us were there and we had the whole run of the house. We could either have our meals there and could prepare them ourselves or we could go over to [Saint Anne Villa], which we did many times, went over and had meals at the Villa. And we had freedom for three months to get back into the swing. And then after three months, we were all missioned somewhere, and I was sent here [Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson, New Jersey] and I've been here ever since. Sr. Mary Teresa: Since… Sr. Teresa Miriam: It was the 1st of September, 1951. Sr. Mary Teresa: '51. That's wonderful, Sister. What do you do now over here in St. Joseph? What kind of… Sr. Teresa Miriam: �Well, I started out as a teacher. I taught for nine years, ten years before I went to China at [Sacred Heart School in the Vailsburg section of Newark, New Jersey]. Because in the school when it was started again after we got there, and I studied a little Chinese first. And then we also tried to absorb some of the medical work in the dispensary and visiting the sick, Sister Finan bringing us and showing us what you do when you visit the sick and how to meet the people. And I didn't get into hospital work until I was home after the bombings. Sister Finan had asked me to ask [Mother Mary Elenita Barry] for sisters for the hospital for xray and laboratory. I didn't even know what either of them meant, but I didn't – after a year or so because the war had broken out then – I didn't see or hear of anyone being prepared. And I was going to the schools and taking collections up on Sundays. I told Mother that school was departmental work and if I learned something about the laboratory or x-ray, maybe I could help out in the hospital if I went back. So she agreed that would be good. Then she let me go to the Hospital of Saint Raphael [in New Haven, Connecticut]. I went to school at St. John's in New Haven, and I stayed at the convent in St. John's and went over every day to the hospital into their laboratory. Now they didn't have a program for medical technologists there, but I was there for about a year and a half, just going from one section to another, with the different technologists. And then as soon as V-J Day came, Sister Carita and I got permission to go to Washington and apply for a visa. And there was a very good friend of Sister Finan's, a Jewish doctor, Dr. Charles Ryan, and he was an officer in the army, too. So through his help in Washington, we made all our applications there. And in October, our passports and visas were issued with special permits from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. So all we had to do then was to look for transportation. We had the permit, but we didn't have the transportation. We looked and we got passage on the Marine Fox, a troop ship that had just come in from France with 5,000 soldiers and it was leaving for Shanghai, where it was going to pick up 3,000 and bring them to Seattle. So we got passage on that ship on the trip to Shanghai, and it left on Thanksgiving eve of 1945. So we had Thanksgiving, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Christmas, and New Years on the water. There weren't that many on the ship going back, going from New York, from the Brooklyn navy yards. There were about 40 of the UNRRA people, the U-N-R-R-A, [United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration] group. And there were the wives of a couple of U.S. diplomats from Peking and Tientsin, I think. And there were the three of us [Sisters Teresa Miriam, Mary Carita and Alma Maria]0. It was quite an experience. We were given one cabin that had two tiers of three bunk beds and nothing else. That was all that was there, that and our baggage. And the whole ship was geared, of course, to men. There wasn't a chair. There wasn't anything on the deck. It was all the steel deck. So you would want to take a blanket and try to find a place that you could sit down in the daytime. There were some Protestant ministers, families, a couple of families of missionaries and some of the UNRRA people, they would take mattresses and bring them out, and leave them on the deck. And when it rained, they'd get soaked, so they'd just throw them overboard. The ship was set up for 5,000 soldiers and there was less than 100 on it, on this trip. And we went all the way down the Atlantic through the Panama Canal. And when we got to Honolulu, the ship was detained there day after day because there was no degaussing on it, and the waters were still very dangerous for mines. So the ship would not be permitted to leave until it had the mine-repelling works in operation. So that was the time we were cared for so beautifully by the Sisters of St. Joseph [of Carondelet] from St. Louis. They had a mission in Honolulu. They met us at the ship and insisted on bringing �us up to their place, their convent. And when they found out that, day after day, we were still there, the work wasn't finished, they made us go and stay with them for a couple of nights. They gave us new underwear so we could take baths in their convent because we never saw a bathtub in the whole ship. But they were very kind to us. And if they found out that we were still in port, they were right down to take us and bring us up. One day, we were brought by a Maryknoll priest, Father Hughes, to see the bishop. The bishop said, "Well, that's the answer to the problem!” He said someone came and told him there were three American sisters on the island, and he didn't know whether it was true or what about it, so he was glad when he found out who we were. And he would have been glad for us to stay there, but we weren't interested in staying there. We wanted to get back to our own mission. They were very nice. And another day the director of the Propagation of the Faith came to see us and gave us a check for $250 for foreign mission work. I remembered that because I'm just writing it upstairs. Sr. Mary Teresa: Oh, I see. I see, I see. Yes, yes. Well, that's wonderful, Sister, that you are writing all these things down so the sisters… Sr. Teresa Miriam: Well, I had lot of help in this way that my family kept all the letters I sent. So I took them all back. And in that way I can recall a great many things that you wouldn't otherwise. Sr. Mary Teresa: Yes, yes. Well, Sister, I appreciate all this, just to have the chance to talk to you and share your experiences. Sr. Teresa Miriam: Yeah, I was glad to hear all about you, too. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Beschel, Sister Teresa Miriam, S.C. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Orbegozo, Sister Mary Teresa , S.C. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data cassette tape Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:23:45 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sister Teresa Miriam Beschel, S.C. Oral History Subject The topic of the resource Beschel, Sister Teresa Miriam, S.C.; China; Sister M. Carita Pendergast; spirit of St. Vincent de Paul; expulsion from China by communist government; Hawaii; Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet; Marine Fox; Saint Joseph Hospital, Paterson, NJ Description An account of the resource Description of Sister's years as a missioner in China; her expulsion by the communist government of China; her return trip to China Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Beschel, Sister Teresa Miriam, S.C.; Orbegozo, Sister Mary Teresa , S.C. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource January 1980 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Neary, Sister Noreen, S.C. (Editor) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Sister Teresa Miriam Beschel desribes her years as a missioner in China; her expulsion by the communist government of China; her return trip to China Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant January 1980 China Healthcare Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/1fbf36cec9cd6d094c850ef858825708.jpg 1592ad29a87fb85a0c4dff576e94cf5e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sisters Caring for Cholera Victims on McNabs Island, 1866. Subject The topic of the resource Nova Scotia--McNabs Island Cholera Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (Halifax, N.S.) Description An account of the resource The painting depicts a scene on McNabs Island in Halifax Harbour during a cholera outbreak in 1866. In the foreground are two Sisters in black habits. One is offering a cup to a woman in a shawl. The other Sister is surrounded by children. A third Sister is seen in a tent caring for a person. Makeshift tents are set up next to trees. Two ships are anchored in the Halifax Harbour. The SS England, a large ship carrying 1300 passengers bound for New York, was suddenly struck by a cholera outbreak was forced to make an emergency stop in the Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia. By the time the anchor had dropped, 50 passengers had already died of the disease. Archbishop Thomas Louis Connelly was concerned about the care of the sick, especially the orphaned children, and asked for volunteers to go to the island. Despite the very serious risk of contracting the disease, every Sister volunteered. Three Sisters were selected to minister to the sick on McNabs Island, and none contracted cholera. Within the congregation, this event is referred to as the start of health care ministries for the Sisters. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sister Agnes Berchmans Landry: Sister Agnes Berchmans Landry (1879-1973) originally painted the scene of the Sisters caring for cholera victims on McNabs Island for Mount Saint Vincent Motherhouse in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which was destroyed by fire in January 1951. After the fire, Sister Agnes Berchmans, though advanced in age, repainted the scene for the new Motherhouse. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity - Halifax Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available N/A Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-1973 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource N/A Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights, reproduction, and use requests or more information, please contact the Sisters of Charity – Halifax Congregational Archivist. Relation A related resource N/A Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Painting, 66” height x 47” width x 2” depth Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical Object Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 95.267 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1866 Halifax (Nova Scotia) Sisters of Charity of Halifax https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/9d7ef877ab5518ce9cccf81cb31e4777.JPG e9fd852ad40827367901613607a97b7d Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Motherhouse Subject The topic of the resource Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (Kan.) Description An account of the resource Photograph of the Motherhouse at Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kansas Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (Kan.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (Kan.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (Kan.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource ca. 2022 Relation A related resource N/A Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (Kan.) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The material in this collection is made available by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. To request reproductions or to inquire about permissions, contact SCL Archives at 913-758-6588, or tcrawford@scls.org. Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/b4f7edf0d34b9b1e56cfbc1bc44b953c.jpg 68411b881f3dcc3560ffb157dce5909d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Snowsuit from Roselia Boarding Baby Subject The topic of the resource Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill (Greensburg, Pa.) Sisters-Religious life Hospitals-Maternity services Orphans and orphan-asylums Social service-Religious aspects-Catholic Church Roselia Foundling and Maternity Hospital (Pittsburgh, Pa.) Maternity homes-Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh Orphanages-Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh Children Adopted children Adoption Women Pregnant Women Description An account of the resource Description A baby left on a convent doorstep on March 17, 1884 initiated the journey for the Sisters of Charity in Pittsburgh to establish their first healthcare institution, a medical facility and boarding home for foundlings and unwed pregnant women. With the help of Roselia and Charles Donnelly and other benefactors, the sisters opened a small house in July 1891. By the end of the first month, the admission of nineteen infants stressed the limits of the building. The need for additional space prompted Mr. Donnelly to purchase the old Ursuline Academy in the Hill District. It became known as Roselia Foundling and Maternity Hospital. From 1891 until its closure in 1971, over 27,000 orphaned and temporarily boarded children came through Roselia. Nearly 50 years later, John Smith* contacted the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill to learn more about Roselia and for clues into his beginnings. John’s connection to the Sisters of Charity, though brief, hints at the influence the Sisters of Charity can and have had on children. After his mother abandoned him at birth, infant John was sent to Roselia as a boarding baby in 1938. The Sisters of Charity in charge there lovingly cared for him for nine months. He was later formally adopted by his paternal grandparents. For 80 years, the outfit the Sisters delivered John home in was preserved in the family. The snowsuit includes the note: “Johnnie, You were so small your little feet were inside this little suit.” Thankful for the love and care of the sisters and for the opportunity to live a full and rich life, John donated this snowsuit to the archives of the Sisters of Charity, along with the story of his upbringing and family. It serves as a symbol of the warmth and love the Sisters have had for children, particularly foundlings, adopted children, and infants. The Sisters of Charity hold the records of Roselia and continue to field research requests related to birth parents and children. *Name anonymized to protect identity. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Source Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available N/A Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource ca. 1938 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource N/A Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Courtesy of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill Archives, Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Relation A related resource N/A Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Costume (mode of fashion) Clothing & dress Language A language of the resource N/A Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical object Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-2018 Roselia Foundling and Maternity Hospital (Pittsburgh, Pa.) Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/4b3b22ed59f25c968a39299fd1a3dc9b.jpg b9eb5df2fa01323f8c56b7e7652db860 https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/22b9a940b2f9d4e8b5130bf7c78eca2e.jpg 6074e881b52e7b6e8969fecff2db392e https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/7e42ceece02af8e38090fb38fba72532.jpg 8e59bf5d549c7f7e6ad202546dc563d1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sr. Alice Matthew’s Trunk Subject The topic of the resource Trunk (Luggage) Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Emmitsburg Province Description An account of the resource The trunk was a symbol of the Daughters of Charity and their ability and willingness to travel to wherever they were needed. The trunk was meant to be a semi-lightweight and convenient way to pack up all the clothing, habits, and necessities of life, while encouraging a sense of personal moderation amongst individual sisters. This trunk, in very good condition, belonged to Sister Alice Matthews, and still has the shipping information as she began her ministry at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource N/A Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Daughters of Charity Archives, Province of St. Louise, Emmitsburg, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available N/A Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource ca. 1986 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource N/A Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission for any type of publication of archival materials, including text, photographs, video, or audio must be secured from the Daughters of Charity Communications Director before publication. Contact archives staff for appropriate forms and contact information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Wood and Leather, 36” x 21” x 24” Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical Object Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EM 11-5-3 #323 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ca. 1985 Washington DC Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/caf3bdd4fd3701c14448fa1888371eb7.jpg 81840f35c8a933369d8cce5a93850cf4 https://scfederationarchives.org/files/original/e19873cc73b971b20d197604368de6b4.jpg b1af44de28d04fea6a20a603b2c29dd3 Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource St. Joseph’s Free School and The Academy of Mount Saint Vincent, stained glass panels, 1810; 1859; 1943; 1972 Subject The topic of the resource Catholic schools St. Joseph’s Academy (Emmitsburg, Md.) McGowan’s Pass (Convent: New York, N.Y) Academy of Mount St. Vincent on-the-Hudson (New York, N.Y.) Academy of Mount St. Vincent (Tuxedo Park, N.Y.) Central Park (New York, N.Y.) –Pictorial works Bronx (New York, N.Y.) – Pictorial works Schools –New York (State) –Tuxedo Park – Pictorial works Schools – New York (City) – Bronx –Pictorial works Description An account of the resource Panel 1, upper section: Emmitsburg, Maryland, 1810: In 1810 when Elizabeth Seton arrived in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the new community of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph’s, opened a free school, the two-story Federal-style building depicted, today known as the ‘White House.’ On February 22, 1810, three girls were the first day students to attend Saint Joseph’s Free School, the first free Catholic school for girls staffed by religious women in the country. Panel 1, lower section: McGown’s Pass, Manhattan, 1847: Mother Seton’s school in Emmitsburg was the precursor to the Academy of Mount Saint Vincent, Bronx, opened after the New York Sisters separated from Emmitsburg community in 1847. Under the patronage of Reverend John Hughes, the first Archbishop of New York and brother to Mother Mary Angela Hughes who led the Community 1855-1861, the Academy at McGown’s Pass was regarded as one of the pioneer institutions in the East for the education of Catholic girls. In 1851, the Academy received its charter from the New York State Legislature. McGown’s Pass at approximately 109th Street and 5th Avenue, had been the location of Revolutionary War headquarters for George Washington and his army. Panel 2, upper section: Font Hill-On-Hudson, Bronx, New York, 1859 When the Sisters were asked to vacate the McGown’s Pass property in Manhattan for the planned development of Central Park, they purchased the 55-acre estate Font Hill-On-Hudson located on the east bank of the Hudson River. In 1859 when construction of the first building at Font Hill-on-Hudson was completed, the building included accommodations for the new Academy and boarding students. The classrooms, grand study hall, art room, music hall, reception rooms, as well as the Convent and Chapel of the Immaculate Conception were housed in this building, today known as Founders Hall. Panel 2, lower section: Tuxedo Park, New York, 1943 As the College student population increased, the need for separate quarters for the Academy’s faculty, students, and activities, was addressed. To provide a new location for the school, Archbishop Spellman deeded an estate in Tuxedo Park, New York, that had been donated to the Archdiocese of New York by Mrs. E. John Heidseick. On this property, the mansion ‘Chastellux’ first housed the Academy of Mount Saint Vincent at Tuxedo Park in 1943. In 1947, the Academy expanded in acreage when Mr. Erasmus Lindley deeded his adjacent home and property. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Peter Appleton, Artist A handwritten note recorded by Sr. Maria Lawrence Keating, who taught at the Academy of Mount Saint Vincent, Tuxedo Park, from 1948-1966, states that Mother Mary Fuller asked artist Peter Appleton, who designed the windows for the Tuxedo Park chapel to create these plaques to honor the tradition of the Academy. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available N/A Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource ca. 1960 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource N/A Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission for reproduction or quotation must be obtained through written application to: Director of Archives, Sisters of Charity of New York, 6301 Riverdale Avenue, Bronx, New York, 10471. This permission is valid only insofar as he Archives of the Sisters of Charity of New York, as owner or custodian, has any rights in the matter and does not remove the responsibility of the author, editor, and publisher to guard against the infringement of any rights; including copyright, that may be held by others. Relation A related resource https://scny.org/two-stained-glass-panels-saint-josephs-free-school-and-the-academy-of-mount-saint-vincent-1810-1972/ Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Physical Object Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical Object Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N/A Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1810; 1847; 1859; 1943 St. Joseph’s Academy (Emmitsburg, Md.) McGowan’s Pass (Convent: New York, N.Y) Academy of Mount St. Vincent on-the-Hudson (New York, N.Y.) Academy of Mount St. Vincent (Tuxedo Park, N.Y.) Sisters of Charity of New York