Valeria was born March 7, 1913, the daughter of John and Rose Shulte Hochstein of Wynot, Neb. She attended St. James School in Wynot for her elementary education. After completing grade school, Valeria entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph, September 8, 1929. She received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Rose Jean on March 19, 1930.
In 1939, Sister Rose Jean was missioned as housekeeper for convents in New Mexico where she spent one year at Waterflow and four years at Blanco. During Mother Gabriel Hayden’s canonical visit to the convent in Blanco, she was deeply impressed by a school play that Sister Rose Jean directed. Mother Gabriel recognized that Sister Rose Jean was a natural-born teacher and insisted she be educated for the classroom. Sister Rose Jean was missioned, sometime later, to St. Denis School in Shively, Ky., for three years and to St. Martin School in Rome, Ky., for four years. Sister was then assigned to Kentucky schools at Rosary Chapel in Paducah, St. Bartholomew School in Buechel (where she taught the upper grades and served as principal), and finally to St Thomas More School in Paducah where she became seriously ill in November of 1951.
At Riverside Hospital in Paducah, Sister Rose Jean was diagnosed as having encephalitis. She died there on November 16, 1951. The parishioners at St. Thomas More requested that her remains be brought to the school before being taken to Mount Saint Joseph. Sister Rose Jean’s casket was placed in her classroom beneath the border she had made for November — the month of the Poor Souls. Msgr. Gilbert Henninger, chaplain, celebrated the funeral Mass at Mount Saint Joseph. Sister’s students from St. Thomas More were present for her funeral as were her parents and relatives from Nebraska. Sister Rose Jean’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.