Whenever Sister Irene Yosick was asked the patronal name day that she celebrated, she was quick to point out that her name came from the Greek word for peace. Irene was born in Shelby, Ohio, the fourth of ten children to Frank and Lillian Soldan Yosick. Irene and her six brothers and three sisters went to Saint Mary’s School in Shelby, and during the last years that our sisters were there both she and her sister Martha Ann, known for some years as Sister Poverello, were assigned to teach in the school. Irene held the record in the 58 years of Joliet Franciscan Sisters there for spending 17 years at the school. Irene was proud to say that in her 40 years as an educator she had taught “about 8000 students.” 

While her major work as a sister was that of education, she always wove into that ministry concern for peace-making. She was a teacher and principal during the turbulent year of our nation at the time of the civil rights demonstrations of the sixties when she was at Saints Peter and Paul in South Chicago. 

She was constantly aware of those in society who were the most vulnerable and the need for their peace of mind. She recalled reaching out to the local Catholic community center in Columbus where the sisters taught crafts, basics in sewing, gave a charm class and supervised a pool room—all to keep the youngsters there productively occupied when they came to the center after school hours. 

When her ministry turned to that of elder care, first for her own parents and then for others after the deaths of Frank and Lillian, she took as her focus not only the person’s physical needs but the spiritual need for harmony of body and spirit.

Read More About Sister Mary Agnes’ Life

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