In Memoriam Archives - Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate

Remembering Sister Irene Yosick, OSF

November 5, 2024/0 Comments/in In Memoriam /by Karen Garifo

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

If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Rita or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here: Remembering our Deceased Sisters.

Remembering Sister Mary Agness Cross, OSF

September 27, 2024/0 Comments/in In Memoriam /by Karen Garifo

Sister Mary Agnes Cross died peacefully on September 17, 2024, the feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis. Being a Franciscan was a desire of her life even in childhood as she admired her parents’ connection to nature. Her father, Frank, reminded her of St. Francis when he would get honey from the beehives and none of the bees would harm him. She says, “I would go out and get swarmed by them.” Her mother, Agnes, enjoyed cooking the vegetables her dad grew, and she decorated the house with his
flowers. Mary Agnes was proud to be a twin to Joseph, her only sibling.

As a young girl, Mary Agnes read The Perfect Joy of St. Francis by Felix Timmermans. When she first read it, Francis’ love for all creatures resonated with her. Then she read it at various life stages and found deeper meanings in Francis’ life each time. More recently she wrote, “The passages that strike me now are: ‘Oh, God, how beautiful you have made everything’ and ‘Life is so simple. The essence of life is love.’”

After twenty years with the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Mary Agnes became a member of our Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate in 1976.

Read More About Sister Mary Agnes’ Life

If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Rita or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here: Remembering our Deceased Sisters.

Remembering Sister Rita Schmitz, OSF

May 6, 2024/0 Comments/in In Memoriam /by Karen Garifo

Rita Ann Schmitz was a Columbus native through and through. She was born at Main and 22nd Street and was always proud of her education at Saint John the Evangelist Elementary School and Saint Joseph Academy. (Hers is an educational heritage shared by only one other Sister in our Congregation, Sister Martha Eckstein, who went to those two schools many years after Rita and both were aware of that connection.) Rita kept up with both grade school and high school classmates attending gatherings and exchanging letters and phone calls often.

Her association with the Joliet Franciscans came when she was a youngster, and her mother, Sarah “Sadie” Scullen Schmitz, mentored Louise Gillivan. Louise (later our Sister Mercia), having lost her parents, was responsible for caring for her younger siblings, particularly her brother Jimmy. Louise Gillivan sought out Rita’s mother for advice because the Schmitz boys were Jimmy’s age. It was through Mercia’s choice to join our Congregation at almost 30, that Rita got to know our Sisters.

Remembering Sister Louise Marie Skoch, OSF

February 7, 2024/0 Comments/in In Memoriam /by Karen Garifo

Sister Louise Marie Skoch once said that her life had always been exciting, rewarding, and filled with love and energy. For that reason, she said her favorite line of Mary’s Magnificat was “God who is mighty has done great things for me.” In one more great act of love, the Lord invited Louise to leave Ascension Villa Franciscan Place on January 28, 2024, and embark on the next exciting phase of her new life beyond the one she had known for almost 95 years. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 28, 1929, and named Mary Ann, Sister Louise Marie was the third child of Louise (Michalek) and Anton Skoch, immigrants from Czechoslovakia.

Starting life with two older brothers, Mary Ann later was gifted with three younger sisters, all of whom she treasured. In 1974, when writing an article for the “Catholic Chronicle” in Toledo about the importance of religious education in the home, Sister Louise Marie recalled her own religious formation as a child. “I can still see the small holy water font by the kitchen door and remember splashing it over myself while making a sign of the cross, greeting Mom and Dad with ‘Praised be Jesus Christ,’” she wrote. Her home parish, St. Procop in Cleveland, continued to nurture her faith as she attended the parish grade school and high school and was influenced by the Sisters there to join the Joliet Franciscans in 1946.

Louise Marie’s stated objective for entering the convent was “to work more efficiently for the greater honor and glory of God”…and that she did! With a B.A. in Religion and an M.A. in Theology from the College of St. Francis in Joliet and a second Master’s Degree in Religious Education from Loyola University in Chicago (Summa Cum Laude every time), Louise built an impressive resume as she taught in grade schools in Illinois and Ohio, turned to religious education in high schools in Illinois and Florida, became a diocesan consultant and then assistant director of the Office of Religious Education in Toledo, Ohio, and then took her religious education background to Colorado, North Carolina, and California.

If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Louise Marie or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here: Remembering our Deceased Sisters.

Remembering Sister Jo Anne Murphy, OSF

December 7, 2023/0 Comments/in In Memoriam /by Karen Garifo

After living with challenging health issues for many years, Sister Jo Anne Murphy slipped away from us peacefully on November 28, 2023, at Ascension Villa Franciscan Place.

Jo Anne was born on April 6, 1947, in Chicago, to Joseph Murphy and Elizabeth (Nowak) Murphy. She was the oldest of a large family of siblings when her mother died in 1957. Though only ten years old, Jo Anne stepped in with a mother’s heart to care for one brother and six sisters. Her responsibilities grew when her father remarried and her stepmother, Jeanette (Szot) gave birth to three more girls.

After graduating from St. Francis de Sales High School in Chicago in 1965, Jo Anne entered the community of Joliet Franciscans, received the name Sister Miriam James as a novice, and made her profession of vows in 1968. At that time, Jo Anne said, “I felt God and I were going to be partners for life.” In college, she majored in math. Her quick mind made her an ideal student of computer technology and she was an early pioneer in the community for computer troubleshooting. Sister Marie Miller, one of Jo Anne’s classmates, said there were two dynamics at work within her: the heart of a mother and a computer brain.

From 1969 to 1982, Jo Anne worked in Illinois elementary schools first as a math teacher, then as a principal. By 1983, she was a math instructor at the College of St. Francis in Joliet and a computer specialist for Our Lady of Angels Retirement Home. In January of 1985, her computer skills continued to grow as she became the programmer for Household Finance Corporation in Northbrook, Illinois, for four years, then the manager of data processing operations at the College of St. Francis for three years.

Remembering Sister Barbarine Houdek, OSF

October 19, 2023/0 Comments/in In Memoriam /by Karen Garifo

Sister Barbarine Houdek (Sister Mary Leonard) died in the hospital on October 10, 2023, just a little over of month before her 98th birthday. She was helped to eat a good meal, smiling and happy, then put her hand out to signal she was finished, laid her head back on the pillow and died within minutes. The joy and peace she showed in life remained her gift at the end.

Helen Barbarine was born on Thanksgiving Day in Calmar, Iowa on November 26, 1925, to Elizabeth (Pletka) and Leonard Houdek. She grew up with her brother, Bernard, who preceded her in death. When she was young the family moved to Chicago where she attended St. Cyril and Methodius Grade School. Her high school years were spent at St. Francis Academy. She graduated from the College of St. Francis in Joliet and went on to earn her MA in Theatre Arts from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.

Barbarine taught primary grades for thirty years in various parishes in Illinois and Ohio until she had the chance to follow her lifetime dream to be involved in theatre. In 1975 she began her Master in Theatre Arts and was able to join several theatre groups.

Read More About Sister Barbarine’s Life

If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Barbarine or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here: Remembering our Deceased Sisters.

Remembering Sister Mary Jo Young, OSF

October 10, 2023/1 Comment/in In Memoriam /by Karen Garifo

Sister Mary Jo Young was so full of life! She stepped courageously into eternal life on September 27, 2023. Mary Jo was multi-talented, intelligent, friendly, talkative, caring and funny. She was a superb educator, mentor and organizer who loved to read, knit, teach, garden, travel, bake, sing, visit, and beat Jeopardy contestants at their own game. She loved God, her family, friends, community members and students. Mary Jo loved her life. When it threatened to be taken from her, she refused to describe the challenge of cancer as a “battle.” “In battles there are winners and losers,” she said. “I don’t want to see it that way. I am on a journey with cancer, and I’ll see where it leads and what I will learn along the way.”

Mary Jo’s journey through life began on November 28, 1943, in Blue Island, Illinois, when she was born to Eleanor (Okutowski) and Kenneth Young. One older brother helped to welcome her into life. Eventually, she became the big sister to seven more siblings. From a very funny father and a very patient mother, she learned humor, tolerance, dedication to work, strong faith, a sense of responsibility and enduring values. It was hard to leave her family when she felt called to the Joliet Franciscans, but she had an aunt and two cousins in the community and another joining her, so she was surrounded by family both in and out of the Congregation. When she became a postulant in 1961, Mary Jo embraced 24 classmates and quickly began to build lifelong friendships.

Remembering Sister Martha Kienzler, OSF

September 28, 2023/0 Comments/in In Memoriam /by Karen Garifo

Sister Martha Kienzler died on September 20, 2023. Many years before, in 1976, when she was working with Catholic Charities in Defiance, Ohio, Sister Martha wrote an article for the “Catholic Chronicle” about the faith and service of her namesake: Martha of the Gospel story in Luke 11:38-42. She described Martha as task-oriented with attention to persons, aware of being present to the person served rather than to the service itself. Later, when Martha’s story continued in John 11:20-27, she was greeting Jesus as he approached the tomb of Lazarus. Here, Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection. If anyone believes in me…he will never die.” Martha affirmed her belief in this. Sister Martha ended her article by writing, “For me, Martha will be remembered…as a patron of service and belief—a woman of Faith, woman of Hope, sent to heal, sent to serve, sent to bring His Word to (all) in His Name.” Today we can say that Sister Martha truly mirrored her own namesake.

Martha was born on the feast of St. Martha, July 29, 1936, to George and Clementine (Burger) Kienzler in Springfield, Illinois. She grew up in her family with a brother, George, and two sisters, Mary and Dolores. She attended SS Peter and Paul Grade School, Ursuline Academy, and Springfield Junior College (now Benedictine University) before leaving her hometown to attend the College of St. Francis (now University) in Joliet where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. After Martha, as Joliet Franciscan Sister Joris, professed her vows in 1961, she was sent to St. Raymond’s in Joliet to teach the fourth grade. Two years later, she was on her way to Toledo, Ohio, to be a caseworker for Catholic Charities. For the next ten years, that work consumed and fulfilled her as, having reclaimed her baptismal name, she was Sister Martha…service-oriented and attending to people lovingly.

Remembering Sister Rita Mandella, OSF

September 14, 2023/0 Comments/in In Memoriam /by Karen Garifo

When Sister Rita Mandella was asked how she wanted to be remembered, she said, “I loved God, my family, my Franciscan Sisters, and friends.” Indeed, the theme she chose for her funeral was from 1 Corinthians 16:14: “Your every act should be done with love.” Rita will also be remembered for being easy to tease and play tricks on, a good sense of humor, a beautiful voice, very detailed and organized, a good worker, and loved babies! She died on September 2, 2023, at Ascension Villa Franciscan Place in Joliet.

Rita Ann was born on December 14, 1937, to Sylvester and Anna Mandella and was the fifth of six children. As a small child, she saw her two older brothers join the armed services during World Wat II. Bernard, at first missing in action, was then a prisoner of war in Germany until the war ended. Gene traveled on an expedition to Antarctica with Admiral Byrd where their Navy ship was punctured by an iceberg. When a documentary was made about the incident, Gene was cast in the movie and Rita went to the theater over and over again just to see him.

Rita grew up in St. Bernard’s parish in Joliet. When she was in the sixth grade, while vacuuming a carpet, she suddenly knew she wanted to be a nun. As a high school student she entered St. Francis Preparatory, and by her senior year she was accepted as a postulant. One year later, as a novice, she took the name Sister Mary Carmel in honor of the Carmelite pastor of her home parish.

Remembering Sister Helen Vahling, OSF

August 7, 2023/0 Comments/in In Memoriam /by Karen Garifo

Sister Helen Vahling embraced going home to God on July 29, 2023. After a stroke in June, which caused her to be moved from the StoryPoint Memory Care unit to Ascension Villa Franciscan nursing home, she was accepted into hospice care when she could not swallow. The ability to swallow eventually returned so that she was able to eat with zest and continued life with amazing stamina into late July. Seemingly unresponsive in her final week, Helen did speak last words to a comforting caregiver. She said, “Thank you.”

Helen was born on May 31, 1934, to Anna (Osterhaus) and Ferdinand Vahling. As one of five children, she grew up on a dairy farm in the Catholic German area of Teutopolis. Life on the farm nurtured her, strengthened her, brought her close to the earth, led her to understand St. Francis, and ultimately infused her with a readiness to be at home with her Creator. Being one of the oldest siblings, Helen said, “I had an over-developed sense of duty and responsibility and an under-developed sense of fun and leisure. Looking back on my life, I’m amazed how God gently and firmly led me to experiences that I would never have dreamed of or chosen.”