Remembrance of the Life of Sister Eileen (formerly Sister Charles Maura) Kersgieter SL

Sister Eileen (formerly Sister Charles Maura) Kersgieter SL died early morning May 11, 2025, attended by the Loretto Living Center staff, Community members having surrounded her with care throughout recent days and weeks. Eileen, who was 94, began her Loretto life almost exactly 66 years ago.  

Eileen Mary Kersgieter, was a St. Louisan through and through.  The daughter of two St. Louisans, Charles Paul and Margaret Slimon Kersgieter, Eileen called herself “the last of the Kersgieter children.” One child, John, died in childhood about the time of the 1918 flu epidemic.  Another brother, Paul, served as pastor in the St Louis suburb of Florissant for many years. Eileen’s only sister, Margaret, known as Bonnie, also lived her whole life in St. Louis.  Charles and his family of 10 children settled in Oklahoma. Eileen tells us in a short autobiography, “In St Louis I attended St. Edward’s Grade School, Rosati-Kain and Laboure High schools, none of which had Sisters of Loretto teaching there. I graduated from high school in 1949.

“After 12 years of education in the St Louis area and four years of employment as a bookkeeper, while I attended night school at St Louis University, I was a little bored and wanted a different type of work.  When I talked with my brother, Paul, who was 12 years older than me, he suggested I contact St. Catherine of Siena School because they needed a teacher. After talking with Sister Gregory, the first Loretto I met, I went to teach at St. Catherine. I taught 70 first graders after just two days of observing another teacher in her classroom.  I got to know more Loretto Sisters [including Sisters Ceciliana and Pat Hummel] and began to seriously consider religious life.  I [would eventually spend] over 30 years teaching and love it, and it all started with a call to Sister Gregory at St Catherine’s school.”

Following four years at St. Catherine, and another year of work in the computer division of a U.S. government office, Eileen entered the Loretto novitiate in 1958, and was received May 24, 1959, as Sister Charles Maura, a name to honor her father. Following first vows, she went with her classmates to St. Louis to the House of Studies, completing at Webster College the liberal arts degree she had pursued in evenings and weekend classes before joining Loretto.  In 1970, Eileen completed a master’s degree in education administration on the St Louis campus of Missouri University. 

Eileen’s first mission was her only teaching assignment outside St. Louis, at St. Ann School, Arlington, Va., 1962-1964.  Eileen wrote: “I was working in Arlington, Va., when John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and we had a very clear view of the funeral procession and burial from a hill outside of Arlington Cemetery. One of my students was friends with Caroline Kennedy and it was a hard time for the students. In my second year Loretto decided to leave St Ann’s.”

After two years, Eileen returned to St. Louis, where for the next 25 years she taught elementary students, first at St. Paul the Apostle School, Pine Lawn, 1964-1966, and St. Ann, Normandy, 1966-1968, and then as principal for two decades at St. Pius V School, St. Louis, 1969-1988.  A newspaper interview quotes Eileen as saying of these years as principal, “I never gave up teaching entirely.  I’ve always taught reading, math or religion — something every year to keep in touch with the problems that teachers experience day to day. … I’ve taught whole families of children and now some of their children. … When I look at them, I say, yes, I accomplished something.  We were part of their foundation. … I feel a great sense of gratitude when I look at the children of the children.”

At the time of this interview, 1988, Eileen was preparing to leave St. Pius for Loretto Motherhouse and the position of Service Coordinator.  “I’ll be dealing with cattle instead of children,” Eileen said with a laugh.  She also admitted to mixed emotions. “I’m leaving my home and family, and that really tears at my heart.  But I don’t really feel I’m leaving.  I will always be part of this parish, and it will always be part of me.” 

At the Motherhouse, Eileen brought practical administrative skills and her warm, comfortable style to the multitude of tasks of coordinating staff, services, buildings and Sisters.  She wrote a bit about the experience and events: “I was Coordinator of the Motherhouse for 11 years. After 30 years in the field of education, the Motherhouse brought a whole different world into my life. I learned about cows, had concern about the newborn calves, watched the market for the best time to sell the year-old cattle (I would never allow the calves to be sold), the corn, and soybeans, etc. I oversaw the maintenance of every building except the Infirmary, determining which needed remodeling, a new roof, etc., then saw what was in the budget to accomplish the task. I saw how a little paint, new carpeting, maybe a new chair can change the whole look of a room and how it pleased the person whose room was being renovated. During those 11 years every building received noticeable renovating.

“I witnessed a storm of 100 mph winds that put a tree trunk through the back window of a car, under the seats and out the hood. Pictures of it are at the Motherhouse. A large tree came through the roof of 1873 House and into the bedroom of S. Rose Alma, leaving a large hole in the roof. It was an interesting feeling to look at the ceiling of a room and be looking at the sun! Sadly, many trees and birds were destroyed. After the storm was over, we walked around in complete awe and shock.

“Another tragedy was the burning of the bam. It happened during the night. I heard a strange sound like something crackling but never imagined it was a fire. After knowing the fire department was on the way, I called the men to come to work immediately. We worked all day keeping the firemen, our employees and volunteers supplied with water, food, and towels to wipe off the soot.”

Eileen wrote later that she loved “going back to the Motherhouse and seeing all that was accomplished while I was there.”  By 1999 she had returned once again to St. Louis to care for a family member.  She lived with three younger Loretto Sisters and, as she wrote, “I used my talents at Nerinx as Administrative Assistant in the Counseling Office [for 13 years] and as one of the Loretto Team Coordinators [for six years] at the St Louis Center.”  Earlier she served on the Board of Directors for Loretto in Kansas City, Mo., Loretto in El Paso, Texas, and Nerinx.  She served on the committee that created Marian Middle School, an all-girls school in the heart of St. Louis — not too far from St. Pius.  As the sponsored work of several religious women’s communities, Marian Middle is committed to breaking the cycle of poverty through education.

Eileen moved to the St. Louis Center and was one of the very last Sisters to leave the Center when it closed in 2017.  Eileen returned to Loretto Motherhouse, retired but still eager to be active.  Early on, she participated in a multi-generational camp with the children at the Loretto Child Care Center.  And for a brief time, she worked in the Finance Office, “Usually two or three afternoons a week, but I don’t let that get in the way of a good game of Spite and Malice after dinner.  I enjoy playing cards. I also enjoy puzzles, such as Sudoku and going out for meals and participating in them here in the dining room. I would like a more frequent happy hour that includes Manhattans, my favorite drink.”

All too soon, Eileen moved for the final time, from her room in the Convent area of the Motherhouse to the Loretto Living Center, visited often by members of the household and Loretto friends from St. Louis and elsewhere.  In her personnel file is a formal commendation of Eileen published by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen in 1988 and equally pertinent today:

“Through the years, Eileen has been a mainstay to an expanding number of friends and admirers, [coworkers and community members] who will greatly miss her warm smile and ready wit, as well as the deep-felt compassion and sense of judgment she has brought to problems requiring delicate solutions.”

For herself, Eileen simply said her greatest pleasure and sense of accomplishment has ever been “hearing about the children I taught as they became adults, mothers, fathers; meeting them out in public and having them recognize me and introduce me to their family as their former teacher or principal.”

A wake for Sister Eileen took place May 18, with a funeral Mass May 19, both at Loretto Motherhouse. The Rev. Pier Giorgio Dengler OP celebrated the Mass. Burial took place at Our Lady of Sorrows Cemetery on the Motherhouse grounds.

Please keep Eileen, her family and all her loved ones in your prayers. May she rest in peace.