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Eleanor Craig SL

Eleanor has been a Sister of Loretto since 1963 and an educator since birth. She graduated from two of Loretto's best known St. Louis institutions, Nerinx Hall High School in 1960, and Webster University in 1967. She taught mathematics at Loretto in Kansas City, where her personal passion for adventure history inspired her to develop and lead treks along the historic Oregon Trail. From 1998 to 2010 she created an award-winning program of outdoor adventure along the Western trails for teens who are visually impaired. Eleanor claims to have conducted more wagon trains to the West than the Mountain Men! From 2012 to 2021, Eleanor led a talented staff of archivists and preservationists at the Loretto Heritage Center on the grounds of the Motherhouse. Now retired, she still serves in the Heritage Center as Loretto Community Historian.

Remembrance of the Life of Sister Theresa Louise Wiseman SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / March 27, 2021 /
A woman with short grey hair and large clear-framed glasses wearing a white sweater with embroidered red roses smiling softly for a headshot picture at a social event.

Mary Theresa Wiseman was the oldest child of Charles Bernard and Christine Margaret McMillen Wiseman, two Catholics from the area around Elizabethtown in Hardin County, Ky.  Their family grew to…

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Reflection on the Fifth Sunday of Lent

By Eleanor Craig SL / March 21, 2021 /

Jeremiah 31:31-34        Hebrews 5:7-9        John 12:20-33 Happy springtime to all of you!   Have you ever thought what it would be like if Lent, Holy…

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Remembrance of the Life of Sister Elizabeth ‘Betty’ (formerly Sister Marian Francis) McWilliams SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / March 9, 2021 /
A woman with short white hair and oval wire-framed glasses wearing a black blouse, gold chain necklace, and a purple blazer smiling brightly for a headshot picture while sitting in a grey recliner chair in a living room.

Elizabeth Jane McWilliams was born in Rockford, Ill., the only child of Frances Marguerite “Betty” McWilliams and Francis Lloyd “Mac” McWilliams.  These two Midwesterners amply gifted their daughter with Midwestern…

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Reflection on the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Eleanor Craig SL / February 7, 2021 /

Job 7:1-71         Corinthians 9:16-23         Mark 1:29-39 The first reading for this Sunday made me cringe: What in the world can I do…

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Reflection on the Feast of the Epiphany

By Eleanor Craig SL / January 3, 2021 /

Isaiah 60:1-6                            Ephesians 3:2-6                       Matt 2:1-12 The key to this feast is in the epistle of Paul, in which he writes to the Ephesians of a mystery made known to…

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Remembrance of the Life of Sister Frances (formerly Sister Mary Roland)Weber SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / December 16, 2020 /
A woman with short grey hair and round glasses wearing a black floral patterned blouse smiling brightly for a headshot picture outdoors on a sunny day in front of a red brick building under a green tree.

Sister Frances Weber was born Cornelia Frances Weber in Freeport, Texas, one of four children of Roland Emile Weber and Elizabeth Mary Kleinpeter, both Louisianans by birth. To her parents…

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Reflection on the Second Sunday of Advent

By Eleanor Craig SL / December 6, 2020 /

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11        Ps 85:9-14        2 Peter 3:8-14        Mark 1:1-8 “Make way, make way” is a refrain usually shouted by those…

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Remembrance of the Life of Sister Ann (formerly Sister Mary Fidelia) Gohl SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / November 28, 2020 /
A woman with short grey hair and oval black-framed glasses wearing a red blouse and a white blazer with thin black stripes smiling brightly for a portrait headshot picture in front of a plain beige background.

Lois Ann Gohl was born the fifth child of William August Julius Gohl, of St. Paul, Minn., and Rose Caroline Woerner Gohl of St. Louis. Their large family home was in…

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Remembrance of the Life of Sister Kay (formerly Sister Timothy Marie) Lane SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / November 14, 2020 /
A woman with short white hair wearing a blue and red plaid collared shirt and a red cowgirl hat with silver detailing smiling for a portrait picture in front of a dark greenery background.

(Author’s Note on Kay Lane SL: Kay left us nothing written about herself. But she was a great storyteller.  What follows here are the facts from Kay’s personnel record, embellished with…

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Remembrance of the Life of Sister Marietta Goy SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / November 5, 2020 /
A woman with short white hair, dangly earrings, and glasses smiling brightly for a flash headshot picture in a dimly lit room.

Author’s Note: This remembrance of Sister Marietta Goy draws heavily on the report of an interview of Marietta done in 2008 by Kathleen O’Malley.  Additional material is from Marietta’s personnel…

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Reflection on the Solemnity of All Saints

By Eleanor Craig SL / November 1, 2020 /

Revelation 7:2 ff. 1 John 3:1 ff. Matthew 5:1 ff. Happy All Saints Day! We have a set of readings today that tell us how one gets to be a…

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Remembrance of the Life of Sister Rita Maureen Hurtt SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / October 19, 2020 /
A woman with short white hair, oval shaped glasses, and blue eyes wearing a white blouse with lace detailing smiling for a headshot picture outside of a brick house with greenery behind her.

Rita Hurtt was the third of four children of Arthur and Gertrude Hurtt of Pagedale, on the inner ring of St. Louis suburbs where families had large yards and gardens.…

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