Sister Mary Emily Whelan, OSU

Wake Service Reflection for Sister Mary Emily Whelan, OSU

 

At 7:17 the evening of Saturday, August 26, Sister Mary Emily Whelan set out on the greatest trip of her life. I had been with her earlier in the day for a last visit, and was on my way to my room to prepare the scripture readings for Sunday. A sentence from those readings leapt out at me – I could hear the words spoken in Mary Emily’s tone of voice!

It was from the first reading, when Joshua stood to address the people, offering them a choice of serving other gods, but assuring them in no uncertain terms that “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” So firm, so definite, so convinced – so Emily! On the form she had filled out for entrance into the community, she stated that her motive for wanting to be in religious life was that she wanted “to be nearer to God and to devote my life work to God.” As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. And she did; Emily really knew what she was about, all her life.

Her service of the Lord began on August 16, 1918, when her parents Nicholas (Nick) Whelan and Adelaide (Addie) Boone welcomed a new girl into their family, the youngest of nine children. She joined five brothers and three sisters: James Virgil, Joseph Edward, Charles Henry, William Martin, Robert Anthony, Mary Pauline, Agnes Lucille, and Dorothy Cecilia (our Sister Dorothy Ann). She was baptized Mary Emily, after her paternal grandmother, in Saint Ann’s church in Howardstown, Kentucky. She stayed pretty close to home, attending both grade and high school at Saint Ann School. Ursuline Sisters Benedict, Charles Emaline, Jane Francis, and Jerome were her teachers in grade school; Sisters Mary Carmel, Dolores Gatton, Patricia, Joetta, and Johanna taught her in high school.

It was only natural that she would follow her older sister Dorothy to the Mount, where she attended Mount Saint Joseph Junior College for a year and a half. Then – bearing a certificate of good health signed by Doctor Edward Mudd of New Haven – she and a Regina Mitchell entered the Ursuline novitiate on February 1, 1939, joining classmates Mary Clarentia Hutchins, Miriam Medley, Mary Rose Lindauer, Mary Leon Riney, Ann Elizabeth Busam, Mary Victor Rogers, Mary Barbara Ketzer, Carmencita Carrico, and Mary Paula Hundley, among others.

Having earned a teaching certificate before her investment on August 14, 1939, she went out to teach as soon as she made her first vows in 1941. She taught nine years at Saint Charles (Marion County), attending classes at Ursuline College in the summer, and making her final vows in 1944. From there the little country girl moved to the big city. While teaching for six years at Saint Columba in Louisville, she completed an associates degree from Nazareth College and a bachelors degree from Spalding, with majors in French and minors in English. During this time she taught all the elementary grades except first grade. Emily must have been a good teacher; just five years ago she received a letter from one of her students from Saint Columba, who had vivid memories of her teaching them in eighth grade. He said that she was one of his favorite teachers, and had a big influence on his life. He remembered her for the personal interest she showed in him, and how much at ease they felt in her presence.

But then she moved on to the “big time” – Saint Bernard’s Academy in Nebraska City, as secondary teacher and librarian. Apparently the community had its eye on her, for in 1958 she was asked to go to Catholic University in Washington DC to get a masters degree in library science…and you know “the rest of the story.” In 1959 she went to Brescia College, where she would minister for 41 years: 30 years in the library, and 11 as receptionist and jack-of-all trades in the Counseling Center. Emily was the last living member of the “big four” Brescia library pioneers: Sisters Hilda Mudd, Mary Barbara Ketzer, Mary Eva Thompson, and Mary Emily. Emily’s jobs in the library included reference work, acquisitions, cataloging, Director of Technical Services, and later, Library Director. It will not surprise you to hear that in the early years she also assisted with general cleaning and the weekly task of scrubbing the black marks off the new linoleum floor – all part of the job in those days!

Coming to Brescia did not mark the end of her educational adventures…she got grants to go to Columbia University for a workshop on Non-Western library materials, and to Fiske University for coursework in Black Studies library collections. Actually, Emily kept learning all her life—she was always interested in places and people and local or world events.

She wasn’t at the end of her travel, either. Mary Emily Whelan had green lights in her feet, and an adventurous heart. She used her 30 year service award from Brescia to take Sister Mary Barbara to Eureka Springs Arkansas, and for her 35th year award she traveled to Pigeon Forge Tennessee. I loved to tease her about “Travels with Aunty Em” but I too enjoyed our shared adventures on our annual Brescia pilgrimage to Hurricane Lake.

But her best trips were to see her family — Sister Mary Emily loved her family! In almost every one of her yearly Individual Annals reports, she recorded her trips to see the nieces and nephews, or a family reunion, or wedding, or funeral…or a visit from them. How she loved those annual trips with Dorothy Ann up to Youngstown Ohio…and going to Frankenmuth Michigan with the nieces…and her 50th jubilee trip to Nova Scotia. You, her family enriched her life so much.

In July 2000, Sister Mary Emily moved to the motherhouse, but not to retire—she was soon busy working at the switchboard, greeting visitors, and delivering mail to the sisters in Saint Joseph Villa. She even had a few more trips in her, going on day excursions with senior citizen groups. As her health deteriorated, she moved into the Villa in 2002, but continued her ministry of hospitality at the switchboard.

Yesterday while we were saying the Office of the Dead for Emily, a phrase from one of the psalms sounded particularly apt for her. It said, “(Lord),you love those centered in truth.” Emily was always so practical, so wise, so centered in truth. She never argued with life, but accepted it as it was, not as she might have wished it to be. Her family deaths, her own diminishing strength and health, were all accepted with a matter-of-fact willingness to move on to the next thing that would be asked of her, and with gratitude to those who would help her take that next step.

On behalf of our community, I extend my sympathy to Sister Mary Emily’s family—what a blessing it was that you could come to say “goodbye!” We offer sympathy to Sisters Clarentia and Miriam, her only surviving classmates; Emily joins the rest of your class as your special advocate in heaven. Brescia sisters, we are turning the University over to Emily now—with her dedication to its mission and her “can-do” spirit, it will surely prosper.

Special thanks to the staff of Saint Joseph Villa, for your loving care of our sister. You let Emily be as independent as she could be, for as long as she could be, then you let her let go. The night before she died, Emily instructed the nurse not to “bring her back”…that she was ready to go. So practical, so centered in truth – so Emily.

Emily, we will miss your sturdy, courageous spirit that took whatever life threw at you without complaint. We will miss your spirit of service – that 88 year old sister working at the switchboard, oxygen tank and all! I will miss you, my friend and sister, for your spirit of fun and interest in everything – from an eclipse of the sun to repairs on a house at Hurricane Lake.

It pleases me to picture you with a whole heaven full of mansions to explore, and people to meet, none of whom will be strangers to you. There’s a book up there in that heavenly library, called Oh, the Places You’ll Go, by Dr. Suess. I’ll bet you have it checked out already. You may even have time to fit in a game of Buck Pitch with Dorothy Ann.

God speed you on this, your greatest journey. We ask you to be with us on ours.

 

Michele Morek, OSU

Congregational Leader

August 29, 2006