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Archived Monastery
Happenings
February 2009
In Loving Memory of
Sister Mary Ann Welder
Sister
Mary Ann Welder, 94, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of
Annunciation Monastery, a mother, grandmother and
great-grandmother, went home to Jesus Feb. 22, 2009, at the
monastery.
A warm,
gracious and loving woman, Sister Mary Ann lived a full,
rich life. With a deep faith in God, a lively sense of
humor, and a determined, energetic spirit, Sister Mary Ann
brought joy to her family, community and friends. She is
deeply loved and will be remembered with great fondness.
Mary Ann
was born Sept. 8, 1914, in Napoleon, ND, to Daniel and
Frances (Stroh) Kuhn. She was the fifth of 11 children who
grew up in a home filled with faith and love. Four of Mary
Ann’s sisters entered religious life. As a young woman,
Mary Ann thought of joining the convent, but fell in love
with Sebastian Welder. They were married in 1935, lived in
Napoleon and moved to Bismarck in 1943.
Sebastian died on Dec. 23, 1951, leaving Mary Ann a widow
at age 37 with three small children. To support the family,
Mary Ann went to school and learned secretarial skills and
then worked for the State Insurance Department for 16 years.
After her
children were grown, Mary Ann again felt the call to
religious life. She entered Annunciation Monastery in 1968
and made monastic profession Sept. 27, 1970. “I wanted to
do more for the Lord,” she once said explaining her reason
for becoming a Benedictine sister.
In her 40
years as a Benedictine, Sister Mary Ann served in many
capacities. She did secretarial work, used her culinary
talents for food service, was a great baker (her baked goods
always had to be made from scratch) and made Little Red
Riding Hood dolls for the gift shop. With her wonderful
spirit of hospitality, Sister Mary Ann made guests feel at
home at the monastery where she served as guest coordinator
for 13 years.
Sister
Mary Ann was also active in the civic community. She was a
member of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas for 62
years, volunteered weekly for 20 years at the Bismarck
Emergency Food Pantry and 10 years at the soup kitchen of
the Ruth Meier’s Hospitality House.
An avid
sports fan, she cheered for the Minnesota Twins, the
Minnesota Vikings and the University of Mary teams. She
never missed a home Marauder football or basketball game.
Even at age 94, she could be seen in the bleachers cheering
for the Marauders. For such enthusiastic support, the
University of Mary Varsity Club surprised her with the
“Lifetime Fan Award” in 2006.
Sister
Mary Ann truly enjoyed life. She liked meeting people,
attending cultural and social events, playing bridge and
visiting her children, grandchildren and
great-grandchildren. She loved her family and was proud of
them.
She also
loved her Benedictine community. “My days are blessed with
grateful memories of each of you,” she wrote in her last
days.
She is
survived by two daughters, Sister Thomas, Bismarck; Judith
(Stefan) Jankus, Navarre, Fla.; a daughter-in-law, Marcia
Welder, Rosemount, Minn.; two sisters, Sister Daniella Kuhn,
Sister Alene Kuhn, Mankato, Minn.; two brothers, Gabe,
Farmington, Minn.; Al, Alamogordo, NM; six grandchildren, 10
great-grandchildren and the Sisters of Annunciation
Monastery.
She was
preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her son,
George, one brother and five sisters.
Memorials
may be made to Annunciation Monastery.
To share
memories of Sister Mary Ann, please visit
www.parkwayfuneral.com and sign the online guest book.
(Parkway Funeral Service, Bismarck)
Wake for Sister Mary Ann Welder – February
26, 2009
Annunciation Monastery Chapel, Bismarck, ND
Reflection
by Sister Thomas Welder
Faith,
family, and community connected Sister Mary Ann Welder to
those she loved. Faith, family, and community gave a rhythm
of service to her days. As God had lavished the riches of
baptismal grace on her, so she lavished her warmth and
attentiveness on those who were drawn into her life. There
were no strangers in her presence. Everyone received a
smile, a hug, and an invitation to the table. Within that
framework of relationships she was granted time enough.
Here I quote from Gardner’s A Thousand Clowns, “You
have got to own your days and name them, each one of them,
every one of them, or else the years go right by and none of
them belong to you.”
For
Sister Mary Ann “there was a time for everything.” With
Jesus, the source and center of her life, she named her days
and years in the broader strokes as daughter, sister,
sweetheart, wife, mother, widow, and Benedictine Sister. If
you brought up vocation, she would smile and tell you the
numbers. “I was married 16 years, a widow for 16 years, and
a Sister for 40.”
It was
her faith, courage, and a bit of German stubbornness that
energized her pilgrimage. She lived every day of her 94
years to the fullest.
The
reading we just heard from St. Paul was inspiration to
Sister Mary Ann. What do you do as a young mother when you
lose your partner, your husband who shared in all that
mattered – the life of the children, your life, your
passions, and your dreams? And who do you turn to when you
lose your son? As was her practice, Sister Mary Ann turned
to the Heavenly Father, who had lost His Son. She trusted
in the mystery of redemption, the forgiveness of our
trespasses. She knew that the “fullness of time” was not
yet here, but, in her words, “God’s generosity cannot be
outdone.” Her faith grew in depth and derived nourishment
from the table of the Eucharist where she brought every
member of her family her community, and her circle of
friends into the life of the Holy Spirit.
Family,
however defined, gives story, ritual, and world vision to
the members. Germans from Russia, Daniel and Frances Kuhn
settled in Logan County, North Dakota in 1911. The fifth
child of eleven, Mary Ann, grew up singing German folk and
art songs and church hymns because her father was teacher,
organist, and choir director.
She was a
natural at sales because her parents owned a rural grocery
store. Daniel and Frances believed in
“stirring-the-oatmeal” love, that is faithfulness to the
humble tasks of a household. Rising, resting, eating,
traveling were all blessed with prayer. Love for God was
real and expressed in large and small ways, to include four
of their daughters following the call to religious life.
Sister Mary Ann was deterred from her desire to become a
sister when she met a young teacher, Sebastian, who did more
shopping at their family grocery than required! Married in
1935, they meant the world to each other. But their world
changed dramatically in 1951. Then, as widowed mother, Mary
Ann owned her days and named them for herself and her three
children. “Be strong in your faith; learn from your life
experience; do your best.”
Nothing
gave Sister Mary Ann greater joy than sharing her life with
her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She named her
days by sending frosted Valentines in February, shamrock
cookies in March, and Easter bread in spring. Christmas
called for re-cycled gifts and pfefferneuse cookies or
better known by the children as Grandma’s snow cookies.
She used
birthday time to name the days and years of all her
children, their spouses, her “grand” and “great
grandchildren.” Her bedroom was a family photo gallery and
her shelves held precious gifts and messages from family and
friends. Faith, family, and community, Sister Mary Ann felt
the need and I quote her, “to do more for the Lord.” When
she tested her idea of resigning from the State Insurance
Department and entering a monastic community, it was her
son, George, who said, “Mother, I would be so proud of you,”
and it was her first grandchild, Michele, who ran into her
arms on the occasion of her first profession exclaiming,
“Grandma, you look so pretty in a bail!”
Sister
Mary Ann, in her new vocation, found ways to minister more
fully to God’s people. And she was not alone. Each sister
pledged to companion her in the search for God. She found
ways of naming prayer time, volunteer time, and baking time;
walk time, sun tanning time, and sports time. Marauders,
Vikings, or Twins could bring her to her feet with a mighty
cheer or leave her in a 3-day funk. And we shouldn’t forget
choir time. As a veteran of choirs, she joined the Sisters’
choir and faithfully attended rehearsals for years. When
she didn’t appear one Sunday, I asked her if she was sick.
“No,” she declared. “I quit! I’m 80 years old and last
Sunday you gave me that look so I quit!”
The good
zeal of the community never turns in on itself, but holds
and honors the guest as Christ. For Sister Mary Ann who at
one time served as guest coordinator for the monastery, the
guests might be her bridge friends, her relatives, students
from the University of Mary or a trip into town to meet the
Catholic Daughters. Indeed her days belonged to her and she
belonged to God.
But her
last days were different. For one who relished doing things
for others, she now had to submit to having things done to
and for her. Like Jesus in his last days, she was no longer
in charge. She was teaching us that death is not a departure
but an entry into the arms of the heavenly Father, through
her patroness Mother Mary. At the end she became quite
specific. She wanted to thank her caregivers and each of
you by name. She was naming those who would greet her:
Sebastian, George, her mother, her family; she was naming
each one of them, every one of them. Through Jesus, they
now belong to her and she belongs to them. These lines from
Sufi thought seem to fit.
On the day I die…don’t weep.
Don’t say, “She’s gone! She’s gone!”
Death has nothing to do with going away.
The sun sets and the moon sets,
But they’re not gone.
Death is a coming together. -- Rumi
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Funeral Reflection for Sister Mary Ann Welder
Friday,
February 27, 2009
~Sister
Nancy Miller - Prioress
Bishop
Zipfel, thank you for being with us today. Your presence
and support during this time is especially meaningful.
Father Daniel, thank you for your steadfast faithfulness to
serving our community. Sister Thomas, your Benedictine
community walks with you and the whole family during this
time and we hold you gently in our prayers.
Sister
Mary Ann loved her family very much. There was no mistake
about that. Often times she spoke of her children, her
grandchildren and her great grandchildren with great love
and admiration. You were such a gift to her and we know
what a gift she was to you.
All of us
here gather in the presence of the Holy as we celebrate
Sister Mary Ann’s entrance into the mystery of God’s
eternity and everlasting love. We imagine her smiling
broadly and rejoicing with all her heart at seeing Jesus and
being reunited with her husband, Sebastian; her son, George,
and all those loved ones who went before her.
The
scripture readings we heard today were chosen by Sister Mary
Ann. Is it any wonder that she chose readings about love
and what it meant to her? She, who gave herself in selfless
love all her life, would naturally want us to hear Scripture
readings about love of God and love of people. She must
have pondered them in her vocations as wife, mother,
grandmother, great-grandmother and for the past 40 years as
a Benedictine Sister.
I think
there are key points in each of the readings she would
especially like us to hear and take to heart. From
Ephesians: “May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith
and may charity be the root and foundation of your life.”
From First Peter: “Above all let your love be constant … Be
mutually hospitable …. put your gifts at the service of one
another.” From the Gospel of John: Jesus says, “This is my
commandment: love one another as I have loved you.”
These
Scripture quotes are so like Sister Mary Ann. She had a
deep faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Through personal and
community prayer, she had many conversations with the Lord
who dwelt deep in her heart. This love relationship with
Jesus kept her going through many joys and sorrows. She
would want us to have trust and faith in Jesus too. She
would want us to put Jesus first in our lives.
Sister
Mary Ann was other-centered in her relationships with
people. She had a wonderful gift of hospitality and made
people feel welcome and comfortable in her presence. She put
others’ needs before her own. Even when she was so sick with
cancer, she responded to people with her usual warm,
gracious manner. She saw that her family and other company
had everything they needed to feel at home at the monastery
and insisted that her caregivers eat first before they
carried a tray to her. The night before she died as we sat
vigil by her bedside, she opened her eyes and said “Go to
bed, you need your rest.”
She would
want us to respond to the needs of others. She would want
us to put our gifts at the service of others as she did.
She would want us to be hospitable and make people feel at
home in our presence. So let us pray that we will follow
Sister Mary Ann’s wonderful example and be steadfast in our
love of one another knowing that she continues to be with us
in a whole new and powerful way.
Sister
Mary Ann, we will miss you. You lived a full rich life and
enriched us all by your energetic and lively presence. Most
of all we will miss the many ways in which you loved us.
Our faith tells us that your love will continue because you
are now experiencing fully with all the holy ones the
breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love and
are living in the fullness of God forever.
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