November 19, 2009
Last updated:
(Taken from an interview with her.)
My older sister and I had never been baptized, but as children we used to walk about 5 miles to go to Sunday School. Our parents never went to church. My sister and I went to all the different churches, but NOT the Catholic Church!
My sister left home after high school and I followed soon after. We lived in a little
bachelor suit in an apartment building on Main Street Peoria. There was one bathroom
per floor. My sister had a job in a store downtown. I continued my schooling at Kingman
High School. I was walking down to the High School after I had graduated to attend
a play, but was hit by a car on the way there. Since I had had quite a bump on the
head, the driver of the car, who was Catholic, took me to St. Francis Hospital for
x-
Later on, because I wasn’t working, I went to St. Francis Hospital and applied for a job. (I don’t know how I ever got up the courage.) I started working in Obstetrics with Sister Bernadine. (Back then, the people who worked in the hospital lived there too.) I got acquainted with some of the Sisters.
I told Sister Agatha that I was thinking of becoming Catholic and she took me to Father Earnest. He gave me instruction. (“Apparently it was too much for the poor guy, ‘cause he died right after he finished.”)
I continued working in OB under Sister Bernadine for another two years. I had started thinking of entering, so one day I waited until Sister Bernadine had left for a coffee break, and I called the Convent. I asked to speak to the Mistress of Novices. When Sister came back from her break, she said, “So, when are you entering?” (She was the one who answered my phone call .)
My sister was not happy with my becoming Catholic. She told me that she would never come to visit me as long as I was dressed like that! (meaning in habit) But she and her husband both became Catholic about twenty years later.
