Vickie Lynn Cravens, born September 12, 1950, in Laclede County, Mo., was the first child born to Hazel Loree Massey and Victor Lavern Cravens. Growing up for the first six years, Vickie’s journey took its first curve with the arrival of a second child, her cherished sister Elizabeth, known as Beth. Due to her mother’s influence, Vickie valued a deep sense of family.
Vickie’s faith journey gained its first shape with summer 1960 baptism into the congregation of the White Oak Pond Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Lebanon, Mo. Her faith journey intensified over the next years sending her on various explorations — from discovering Catholicism at Girl Scout meetings in the basement of the local Catholic school; in high school and college immersion into music as response to God’s creative call; to investigating the celebration of Mass during her college career at Southwest Missouri State University. After graduation Vickie’s journey took a longer resting place in 1973 with the Kinderbrook Regional Library, graduate work in library science, and the beginning of a deep friendship with Sister Agnes Irene, a Sister of Saint Joseph from Concordia, Kan., her supervisor at the library.
In 1983, Vickie completed her first RCIA, which she made simply out of curiosity, gathering information about the Catholic Church and the dimension of the Catholic faith. On May 27th, 1987, Vickie made her solemn profession of faith and was confirmed in the Catholic Church at St. Frances de Sales in Lebanon, Mo.
During this time, she had become acquainted with the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph through the pastoral associate at St. Frances de Sales, Sister Marie Michael Hayden. In 1994, Vickie made lifetime commitment as an Ursuline Associate; in 1996, she entered the Contact Program at Mount Saint Joseph, followed by becoming a postulant at age 44; March 1, 1997, entered the novitiate; made temporary profession May 22, 1999, and final profession in 2004 as an Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph.
With two degrees already, Sister Vickie stepped out of her comfort zone and completed the Ministry Formation Program at Brescia University, and worked for a semester in the library there. But the Mount Saint Joseph Archives at the Motherhouse was her chief calling and gave her the opportunity to delve more deeply into what she loved discovering — the history, tradition and charism of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph and sharing in the lives and dreams of those with whom she worked.
Sister Vickie threw herself wholeheartedly into her life; her faith, her love of Church, for God, for family and for the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. She nurtured “her archives” and made detailed plans for the next phase of its journey. With the renovation of Lourdes Hall as the Administration building to be completed by January 2011, the Archives would be housed on the first floor. This move would be a monumental task, but Sister Vickie had each piece of furniture and equipment to be moved drawn to scale and placed in its designated spot on the floor plan of the new facility. Sister arranged the date of the surgery she was to undergo for intestinal hernia to give the three-month recuperation period she would need before the move began. She entered Owensboro Mercy Health System on August 5th, 2010, as planned. Extraordinary, undetected conditions appeared immediately following the surgery. A team of specialists worked for several hours to no avail. Sister died that evening, soon after her sister Beth arrived from Saint Louis.
Reverend Leonard Alvey celebrated the Mass of Resurrection in the Motherhouse chapel, at 10:30 a.m. August 7, 2010. Sister Vickie’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.