Sr Loretta

I will begin with my parents. My Dad was a patient, loving and hard working individual. Mom was outgoing and aggressive. She never know a stranger and our doors were open for anyone at any time. I grew up on a 160 acre farm, ten miles from the town of Albany, Minnesota. We attended Mass every Sunday and Holy Day. My siblings and I attended the one-room country school, a mile and a half from home. When I was 15 years old we moved to a 480 acre farm and then attended the St. Alexis Church in West Union, Minnesota. Working the farm was a family affair. Our pastor reminded me of a life higher than what the world had to offer. When I was eighteen, I took a job as the head cook at Roberts Pine Beach Hotel, located twelve miles out of Duluth, Minnesota. This was a summer job and in the fall I worked as head cook at the Waldorf Hotel in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. I had a boyfriend and we talked about having a home on the outskirts of Minneapolis and having twelve children.

When the call came, the Lord said He would give me not only the twelve children, but the whole world. I could not resist; it was very strong. I went to our pastor, at St. Alexis and mentioned it to him. He said that he had been waiting for me for two years, because he knew I had a vocation to the religious life. He asked me which community I was considering and I said that I did not know, but that I thought I should become a Franciscan. He gave me five books of different Franciscan communities and when I opened the book for The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, I knew that was it. I closed the book and returned to my pastor and he said he would write the first letter.

So I entered our novitiate on April 16, 1953. And what a vocation it has been! I live daily with the world as my children.