In the fall of 1958, I entered the Franciscan world when I trained as a nurse at St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma, Washington. The hospital and the school of nursing were administered and managed by approximately twenty-five Sisters of St. Francis. That early nursing experience was maturing, exciting, and challenging—and the education was outstanding. When I graduated, I was well prepared to serve patients in a professional manner. The excellence and dedication of our “Sister” teachers was impressive and here were planted the seeds of my vocation.
In 1965 I made my first profession of vows as a Sister of Sr. Francis at Our Lady of Angels Convent in Portland, Oregon. As I look back over the years, I realize that both my years training as a nurse and my novitiate experience provided a marvelous foundation for my Franciscan life. Good beginnings are great blessings in life. My ministry in healthcare offered many opportunities to serve the people of Eastern Oregon and Tacoma, Washington in various nursing positions.
The congregation encouraged me to continue my education and to complete a Degree in Nursing and a Masters in Hospital Administration. Later I studied Clinical Pastoral Education and became a hospital chaplain. These three professions have prepared me for my present ministry at St. Ann Convent in Tacoma, Washington, where I collaborated with the staff to provide a comfortable home for our retired sisters who devoted their lives to the people of the western region of the United States. Some of the sisters I met fifty years ago reside at St. Ann Convent. It is a humbling experience to be with these individuals who inspired me and planted the seeds of my vocation to Franciscan life.
Throughout the years I have been offered opportunities to engage in short term ministries—called immersion experiences—which call one to join with others already established in special ministries. My own experience included joining recovery projects after Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua, providing immunizations to the children of Haiti, and meeting women in the barrios of Mexico. The congregation’s commitment to social justice has also educated me to advocate for the poor through my work on trustee boards of various hospitals and other service organizations. Peacemaking is an essential value of Franciscan life—one that has called me to join others locally to oppose war, violence, and nuclear installations, and to work on behalf of the peace and justice center.
The Franciscan way is a rewarding, positive way to live life. My life has had good beginnings and I know good endings. It is the in-betweens that are happening now and I continue to understand more deeply the call to live the Gospel by observing the example of my sisters and brothers who believe and live their individual call to live Gospel.
