(Sister Mary Agnes went to heaven on May 10, 2023.) Sister Mary Agnes VonderHaar’s ancestors came from the valley of Haar in Bavaria, Germany. Her great grandfather came to America with his family to Quincy, Ill., then to Davenport, Iowa. “Dad worked for the Army at Rock Island Arsenal as a machinist,” Sister Mary Agnes…

Sister Nancy Murphy grew up on a farm just a stone’s throw from Maple Mount in the small community of Curdsville. Her father was a farmer, her mother a homemaker, and they and their nine children lived next door to Sister Nancy’s maternal grandparents. Her life revolved around the farm, with rarely a trip into…

Ursuline Sister Ann McGrew attended St. Paul School for grades 1-12 in her native Grayson County, Ky. She had Ursuline Sisters or priests as teachers all 12 years. “When I met the sisters in the first grade, I wanted to be one of them,” Sister Ann said. “They were helping others. I needed glasses in…

Sister Cecelia Joseph Olinger had Ursuline Sisters as teachers from grade school until she became a sister herself. Born Evelyn Marie Olinger, she grew up among the cotton fields of Glennonville, Mo., the 10th of 11 children born into a farming family. She attended Glennonville Public Elementary School, in which the teachers were Ursuline Sisters.…

(Sister Dorothy Helbling went to heaven on Nov. 1, 2020.) Not many people would be expected to follow through on a promise they made in the second grade. Sister Dorothy Helbling did just that, and she’s never regretted it. “On my First Communion day, I made the promise that I would become a sister,” Sister…

(Sister Rita Lavigne went to heaven on Sept. 17, 2015.) Rita Lavigne had attended Mass at Assumption Church in Topeka, Kan., since she was a little girl. At age 28, she was going to Mass every morning before work at an insurance agency. One day in 1950, the pastor, Monsignor Eugene Vallely, suggested she drive…

(Sister Mary Jude Cecil went to heaven on Dec. 16, 2019.) Martha Elizabeth Cecil was known as “Marty” by her family, but when she became an Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph, she chose “Mary Jude” as her name because of her mother’s great devotion to Saint Jude, “the saint of the impossible.” Whenever the…

(Sister Rosalin went to heaven on March 29, 2017.) Sister Rosalin Thieneman’s long life as an Ursuline Sister proves that God’s insistence can be stronger than human resistance. From childhood, Mary Margaret Thieneman heard God’s call early and often. Her usual response was: “I’ll check it out later.” At age 27, already convinced that she…

Sister Sara Marie Gomez went to heaven on July 24, 2022. Thankfully for the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, the U.S. Navy lost a recruit in 1961. A woman offering some skin treatment to Evelyn Gomez that year told her that she had returned from a tour in the Navy and received much valuable…