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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