Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross in Green Bay, WI

Sister Martin Vandervest

Retirement gives Sisters time to pray for the world's needs

Sister Martin Vandervest

In July 1907 my parents, Josephine Bader and Joseph Vandervest, were married at St. Louis Church in Dyckesville. I, their 11th child, was born and raised on the family dairy farm a few miles from the church. Our parish priest, Father Walter Paiement, O. Praem., prepared me to receive the sacraments.

I graduated from Algoma High School, received a teaching certificate from Door-Kewaunee Normal School and taught in the one-room McKinley School. As a Franciscan Sister I continued teaching in the Green Bay Diocese and in Columbus, Texas. Later, I trained for chaplaincy and ministered as a Catholic hospital chaplain in Oshkosh, Marshfield, and East Chicago, Indiana.

During my retirement years at St. Francis Convent, I volunteered at Wellspring: A Place of Peace for Women and served on the Peace and Justice Committee. I serve in areas within the convent. I continue to enjoy the outdoors and eradicate weeds and invasive plants in our prairie gardens. I read and pray concerning current events in the church and the world.

For the gift of 70 years of religious life as a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross, I praise and thank God.


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