2018 Jubilarians

Sister Margaret M. (Martha Ann) Kasper, BVM was born in Mills, Wyo. Sister taught elementary school and or was principal in Chicago, Round Lake, and Grayslake Ill.; Emmetsburg, Sioux City, and West Union, Iowa; Lead, S.D.; and Denver. In Denver, she was the executive director of Francis Heights Inc., coordinator for senior citizens and pastoral associate at Presentation of Our Lady, and director of volunteers and programs for outreach to the poor and later became a volunteer.

“Margaret Kasper and I entered together,” says childhood friend Vivian C. (Lauren) Wilson, BVM. “We went to school together at St. Anthony’s. One day in class I said, ‘Maggie, I’m thinking of entering the convent. Why don’t you go with me?’ And she just turned around and didn’t say anything . . . the next day I was a little annoyed that she wouldn’t say anything and so during class, she turned around and said, ‘I want to go with you.’ We entered the following February.”

Sister Vivian C. (Lauren) Wilson, BVM was born in Lusk, Wyo. Sister taught elementary schools in Chicago; Lead and Rapid City, S.D.; and Fort Dodge, Iowa. She served as an admissions counselor and assistant director of business administration instruction at Mundelein College in Chicago and director of religious education in Park Forest, Ill.

“I loved every minute,” says Vivian. “I’ve learned so much in this wonderful community. Each day is another day where you dedicate the day to God, and you go on.”

Sister Eileen (Rose Francis) Anglim, BVM was born in Kansas City, Mo. Sister taught in Phoenix, Ariz.; Los Angeles; Waucoma, Iowa; Chicago; and Kansas City. She served as a librarian at Rockhurst College in Kansas City; and Mundelein College and Gregory HS in Chicago. Sister was also involved in parish ministry throughout the San Francisco area.

“For me now, being a BVM means trying to live each day as best I can, for God’s love helps me and keeps me going,” says Eileen. Her favorite ministry was at St. Agnes in Phoenix where she taught second grade for nine years.

Sister Catherine (Michael Ann) Dominick, BVM was born in Chicago. Sister taught elementary school in Clinton and Maquoketa, Iowa; Chicago; and Clarksdale, Miss. She served as convent cook at St. Anne in East Moline, Ill., and Cedar Falls, Iowa. She served in several offices as a typist, receptionist, and file coordinator in Chicago.

“I was taught by a BVM for 12 years so that’s why I wanted to be a BVM. It’s just something I’ve wanted to do since the seventh grade,” says Catherine. “I’m a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I am very proud of the fact that the Lord has chosen me to do this job.”

Sister Norma (Adelaide) Evans, BVM was born in Penalosa, Kan. Sister taught elementary school in Dubuque, Waucoma, and Peosta, Iowa; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; and Wichita Kan., where she also served as a resources person, librarian, and reading tutor. She was also a secretary in San Francisco.

“I enjoyed living in little places,” says Norma. “I was never more happy than when I was in Waucoma or Peosta. I still hear from former students there. One named Bobby lost his mother when she died at the birth of her 14th child. Bobby has told me, ‘You never gave me an “F” in religion.’ After all, how could anyone judge that a little boy should have an ‘F’ in religion! He may not have been a bright student, but he tells me that he put his five children through college.”

Sister Jeanne F. (Chabanel) Fielding, BVM was born in Milwaukee, Wis. Sister was an elementary teacher in Chicago and Maywood, Ill.; Emmetsburg, Iowa; and Hempstead, N.Y. She was also a secretary at Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois, and Northwestern University all in Chicago.

“I did the best I could and I always felt that I wanted to give these children something,” says Jeanne reflecting on her time teaching. “We don’t realize what influence we have on children. They’re influenced by everyone, so we all need to be a good example.”

Sister Dolores M. (Jeanne Michele) Kramer, BVM was born in Alta Vista, Iowa. Sister taught in Chicago and Grayslake, Ill.; Fort Dodge, Des Moines, and Clinton, Iowa; West Hempstead N.Y.; Kansas City, Mo.; Wichita, Kan.; and Glendale, Calif. She was a pastoral care associate in Waterloo, Iowa; an administrative assistant at Mundelein College and a spiritual director at Loyola University in Chicago; and directed retreats for 20 summers at the Jesuit Retreat House in Oshkosh, Wis.

“I picked up a second ministry in life and that was spiritual direction,” reflects Dolores. “I think that’s where I made the most difference in people’s lives when I had retreats on a one to one basis where I could really work with people and help them see through some of their own confusion.”

Sister Kathryn (John Laurian) Lawlor, BVM was born in New Liberty, Iowa. She taught elementary school in Clinton and Iowa City, Iowa; and Memphis, Tenn. She taught high school in Seattle; Chicago and Rock Island, Ill.; Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa, where she was a principal. She was the program developer for the Haitian Catholic Center and purchasing agent at Barry University in Miami, Fla. At Mount Carmel in Dubuque, Iowa, Sister was secretary of the BVM congregation and director of the Roberta Kuhn Center. She has also written several books on the history of the BVM congregation and continues to teach at the Roberta Kuhn Center.

“I think I always felt I was where I should be from the very beginning,” she says. “I’m so grateful for that opportunity to be a teacher. I loved teaching and the children are such an inspiration on the things they’d say and the things they do. Every morning I thank God for the life that I have had and the life that I continue to have.”

Sister Lillian (Joan Loretta) Lila, BVM was born in Evanston, Ill. Sister taught elementary school in Chicago, Wilmington, East Moline, and Rock Island, Ill.; Clinton, Iowa; Santa Ana, Calif.; and Phoenix.

“I wanted to belong to a community dedicated to our lady . . . there was something so special so I wanted to belong to this community,” says Lillian. In retirement, she enjoys spending her time in prayer and solving three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles.”

Sister Ann Kathleen McDonnell, BVM was born in Chicago. Sister taught elementary school in Chicago at St. Callistus, St. Charles, and St. Pius, where she was also a principal. She served as the curriculum and educational consultant for the Chicago Archdiocesan school board. She did pastoral care at Queen of All Saints Basilica where she continues to volunteer. She also taught in Casper, Wyo.

“[As BVMS] we plant seeds every day and then one day those seeds will grow,” says Ann Kathleen. “It will make a difference in the world. You can’t do everything and we may never see the results. It’s God’s grace that helps us do these things.” A lifelong lover of Irish dancing, she still finds time to dance and to be with God through music.

Sister Ernestina Molinari, BVM was born in San Francisco, Calif. Sister taught and or was principal in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Stockton, Calif.; Chicago; and Kauai, Hawaii. In California, she served as an adult education teacher at Santa Clara Central County Regional Programs, San Jose Unified School District where she also served in various administrative offices. She was also an administrator for elderly low-income housing in Santa Rosa.

“One of the reasons I wanted to be a BVM was because I wanted to be a teacher,” says Ernestina.  As a child, she says she would gather the children in her neighborhood with pencils and paper because “I wanted to teach them something.”

Sister Susan (Michaela) Rink, BVM was born in Tulsa, Okla. Sister served as assistant dean and president at Mundelein College in Chicago from 1970-83. Also in Chicago, she worked in youth ministry and alcohol/chemical dependency at Parkside Medical Services. She taught in Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Dubuque, Iowa, where she later served as the treasurer for the BVM congregation.

In her free time, Susan teaches bridge classes at the Roberta Kuhn Center at Mount Carmel in Dubuque and can be found fishing along the Mississippi. “I didn’t choose to be a sister,” she says. “God chose me. God chooses all of us . . . and I’m very fortunate that he chose me to be a BVM.”

Sister Josephine M. (Thomas Kathryn) Roche, BVM was born in Chicago. Sister taught at Alvernia High School and served as a business administrative assistant and secretary of the theology department at Mundelein College. She taught in Milwaukee; Burlington, Iowa; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Wichita, Kan.

Josephine describes being called to serve through music, “When I entered high school there was always a longing in me for something more,” she says. “When I heard beautiful music . . . it just did something—it’s the Lord speaking to me. The beauty of God is something reflective in music to me . . . it made me cry out, ‘more, more, more.’” She still finds time to be with God through music.

Sister Martha (Briant) Ryder was born in St. Louis, Mo. Sister taught at high school in Chicago and Clinton, Iowa. She taught and served as the department chair of physical science and physics at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa.

“I’m very grateful for the life I’ve been given and the people I’ve known,” says Martha. In her spare time, she still enjoys watching the St. Louis Cardinals.

Sister Bernadette Marie (David Ann) Schvach, BVM was born in Chicago. Sister taught elementary school in Des Moines, Iowa; Boulder, Colo.; Chicago and Berwyn, Ill. In Hawaii, she was a teacher in Kauai and principal in Kalaheo. In retirement, she teaches a card making class at the Roberta Kuhn Center and enjoys baking for her fellow sisters at Mount Carmel in Dubuque, Iowa.

“I hope that I’ve instilled qualities that the children should follow in their life to become better people,” says Bernadette. “That’s what I wanted most in them—to be good to each other but most of all that they would become good persons.”

Sister Gertrude Ann Sullivan, BVM was born in Milwaukee, Wis. Sister taught and or was an assistant principal in Dubuque and Davenport, Iowa; West Hempstead, N.Y.; and Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. In San Diego, Calif., she was the curriculum director for the diocese and a national consultant for Hesa, Inc. During her time with the diocese, she also authored three books for various age levels on Junipero Serra who founded the mission system in California. Gertrude was a professor and vice president of academic affairs and academic dean at Clarke University in Dubuque.

“All life is rooted in vision,” shares Gertrude in Rooted in Vision: The Life Journey of Junipero Serra. “For thousands of years, God has been gradually and continuously revealing Himself. In every age and stage of that revelation, He calls forth from history someone very ordinary to model for us the extraordinary way God is involved with His people.”

Sister Patricia Ann (Wilbur) Taylor, BVM was born in Dubuque, Iowa. Sister was an elementary teacher in Chicago; Chattanooga, Tenn.; North Hollywood, Calif.; and Tempe, Ariz. She was featured in several articles in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald in the early 2000s for her knowledge of technology, garnering the title “Cyber Sister.”

“I loved teaching,” says Patricia. “I guess you could say teaching was my first real passion and the computer was pretty close to second. My greatest gifts would be first my God, my family, and friends.”