• Feather-Icon
    Author archive

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.

Reflection on the Fourth Sunday of Lent

By Eleanor Craig SL / March 22, 2020 /
Sunlight shines through the window in the Motherhouse Church

1 Samuel 16, Psalm 23 (22), Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9: 1-41 Having come to the conclusion of our celebration this morning, what will we take with us into this day,…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Sister Kay Carlew SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / March 11, 2020 /
A woman with short, white hair and wire glasses smiling brightly for a headshot picture wearing a white t-shirt and a grey collared jacket outside in front of a brick building and greenery.

Sister Kay Carlew wrote a brief introduction of herself for Loretto Magazine at the time of her Golden Jubilee in 2011.  We’ll start there but be warned: Kay left out…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Patricia Jean Saddler Hughes CoL

By Eleanor Craig SL / January 6, 2020 /
A woman with short, white hair wearing a patterned blouse smiling softly for a headshot picture indoors in front of a butter yellow wall.

Patricia Jean Saddler was understandably proud of her ancestry.  Her distant kin, Basil Hayden, led the first band of Catholics from Maryland to central Kentucky in 1785.  Her mother’s family,…

Read More

Reflection: Feast of the Holy Family

By Eleanor Craig SL / December 29, 2019 /

This morning we continue our Christmas celebrations with a feast focused on the family. That makes a lot of sense, because the Christmas child has been given to us in…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Sister Patricia Jean (PJ) Manion SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / September 12, 2019 /
A woman with short, white hair and round, wire glasses smiling brightly for a headshot picture wearing a purple turtleneck, and a salmon colored sweater outdoors.

This remembrance is just a little bit shorter than PJ’s long life. I could blame the length on PJ, who insisted on living life to the full. I certainly did…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Patricia Kenoyer CoL (formerly Sister Marie Francis Kenoyer SL)

By Eleanor Craig SL / August 17, 2019 /
A woman with short, grey hair smiling warmly wearing a bright aqua blue shirt, beaded necklace and big black circular framed glasses. She is standing in front of a plain wooden wall.

Patricia Ann Kenoyer was born on Flag Day, and each of her 95 birthdays she celebrated as though all the flags were flying for her!  Her father John Jay Kenoyer…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Sister Mary Genevieve Cavanaugh SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / August 9, 2019 /
A headshot picture of a woman with short, grey, curly hair and wire glasses smiling while sitting on a red couch. The picture has a white arch frame around her head.

Jeanne Frances Cavanaugh was born 99 years ago, in Kansas City, Mo., to Frank Edward Cavanaugh of Kansas City and Mary Frances Mullen Cavanaugh of Salina, Kan. Jeanne was the…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Sister Patricia (formerly Sister Margaret Rose) Hummel SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / July 30, 2019 /
A woman with short, light brown hair and big round glasses, smiling for a portrait picture with a grey vignette background while wearing a navy blue and white patterned blouse and a white necklace with matching earrings.

The following is the autobiography which Sister Pat Hummel herself has written starting in 1989 and added to periodically until quite recently. “I was born in Louisville, Ky., June 30,…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Sister Mary Ann (formerly Sister Charles Loretto) Coyle SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / June 15, 2019 /
A woman with short brown hair and round wire glasses smiling brightly for a headshot picture outdoors on a sunny day in front of greenery while wearing silver stud earrings and a navy blue blouse.

            Mary Ann Coyle was born in Des Moines, Iowa on Nov. 1, 1925.  Her parents were Charles L. Coyle and Loretta Teatum Coyle, both Catholic and lifetime residents of…

Read More

Loretto Heritage Center Staff Hang Together Through Thick and Thin!

By Eleanor Craig SL / May 1, 2019 /
Three women smiling for a picture while exploring a basement crawl space.

Curator Susanna Pyatt, Archivist Ayla Toussaint and I laugh as we inspect the space beneath our building; above the crawl space, Heritage Center Assistant Marcia Mohin enjoys the less dusty…

Read More

A Picture Is Worth a 1,000 Documents

By Eleanor Craig SL / April 1, 2019 /
A woman with grey hair wearing a colorful plaid shirt smiling while grabbing a file box on a large file shelf covering the whole wall.

Last June the Archivists at the Loretto Heritage Center noticed buckling in the hardwood floor beneath the racks of documents. At least one sensitive nose also smelled musty, moldy smells.…

Read More

Which Way to the Novitiate?

By Eleanor Craig SL / November 16, 2018 /

On the grounds of Loretto Motherhouse, in an area of central Kentucky which is today still quite rural, two imposing brick buildings stand as witnesses to more than 175 years…

Read More