Marilyn Thomas, BVM
Sister Marilyn Thomas, BVM, 103, of 1050 Carmel Drive, Dubuque, Iowa, died Wednesday, June 5, 2019, at Marian Hall.
Visitation was Friday, June 7, in the Marian Hall Chapel followed by the Mass of Christian Burial. Burial is in the Mount Carmel Cemetery.
Sister Marilyn was a music and French instructor at Clarke University and an elementary teacher at Visitation School, both in Dubuque, Iowa. She served as secretary to two congregational presidents and a Clarke University president. She was treasurer, secretary, and organist at the Mount Carmel complex in Dubuque. She taught music at Immaculate Conception Academy in Davenport.
She was born on April 11, 1916, in Davenport, Iowa, to Albert J. and Florence Mullane Thomas. She entered the BVM congregation Feb. 2, 1945, from St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Davenport. She professed first vows on Aug. 15, 1947, and final vows on Aug. 15, 1952.
She was preceded in death by her parents, sisters June Thomas and Dorothy Gardner, and brother Albert J., II. She is survived by nephews Peter, Patrick, and Paul Gardner, David and Albert Thomas, niece Teri Stineman; and the Sisters of Charity, BVM, with whom she shared life for 74 years.
Memorials may be given to Sisters of Charity, BVM Support Fund, 1100 Carmel Drive, Dubuque, IA 52003 or make an online gift.
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Sister Marilyn taught organ when I was in the novitiate. I have fond memories of conversations with her about entering “later in life” – I entered at age 23 and she told me she entered at 29. My husband, Tom and I visited her several times over the years. She was a quiet, loving person who lived a long and peaceful life. I will always remember her. Joan Leland Spittler (formerly S. Joseph Mary).
Sister Marilyn and my mother, Geraldine Collins Ellis both attended and graduated from ICA (Immaculate Conception Academy) in Davenport, Iowa (1934). I was a piano and organ student of Sister for two years at the Academy which closed in 1958. Those years of piano and organ instruction prepared me to pursue a music degree from Mundelein College (1965). I spent some thirty years as a classroom music teacher in Seattle, Chicago, and here in Rockford. I am most grateful for the broad education that I received from the BVM sisters – most of it occurred during the Vatican II days.
Thant you , Sisters, and to you Sister Marilyn. You were such a defining part of my life.