June 12, 2009
Daughters of Charity celebrate 2009 Jubilees
Eight Daughters of Charity from the East Central Province were recognized for special Jubilees at Seton Residence in Evansville on June 6. Sisters celebrating their sixtieth anniver-saries were Sisters Vivian Da-vid, Mary Louise Happich, Anthony Prugger, Mary Ruth Rault and Emmanuel Schott. Golden anniversary celebrants attending included Sisters Sheila Carney and Jacinta Reiter. Sister Julia Huiskamp celebrated her fiftieth Jubilee that day with friends and co-workers near her ministry in East St. Louis.
60-year Jubilarians
Sister Vivian David was born in Mosinee, Wis. She joined the Daughters of Charity in July 1949, a few years after earning certification as a registered nurse at St. Mary’s School of Nursing in Evansville. That training and the bachelor of science degree in nursing education Sister Vivian earned at DePaul University in Chicago in 1953 prepared her for the next 21 years of her ministry. During that time, Sister worked as a supervisor in operating and emergency rooms and intensive care units at St. Joseph Hospitals in Chicago and Alton, Ill.; St. Vincent Hospital in Birming-ham, Ala., and Providence Hos-pitals in Waco, Texas, and South-field, Mich.
From 1973 to 1979, Sister Vivian served as an infirmary nurse at Seton Manor in Evansville. She changed her ministry and became active in pastoral care for over three years at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., and eight years at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianap-olis. Sister Vivian moved to Se-ton Residence in 1990, where she continued serving in Pas-toral Care and became active in the Ministry of Prayer.
Sister Mary Louise Happich is a native of New Orleans, La. Her vocation date is also July 1949. After Sister Mary Louise completed a degree at Font-bonne College in 1951, she began her ministry in elementary education. For the next 31 years, she was a teacher and/or principal at the following grade schools: Cathedral, Natchez, Miss.; Marian, Montebello, Calif.; Our Lady of Talpa, Los Angeles, Calif.; St. Catherine Laboure, St. Louis, Mo.; St. Louise de Mar-illac, Arabi, La.; St. Stephen, New Orleans, La., and Holy Trinity, Dallas, Texas.
After spending a year as a hostess at Seton Shrine in Em-mitsburg, Md., and five years in parish/pastoral ministry in Sallisaw, Okla., Sister Mary Louise moved to St. Louis, where she remained until coming to Seton Residence in Evansville this May. Her ministry in St. Louis included working for the Catholic Health Outreach Program, Marillac Provincialate and Catholic Community Services.
Sister Anthony Prugger was born and grew up in Milwaukee, Wis. She had earned a bachelor’s degree before joining the Daughters of Charity in Febru-ary 1949. After completing certification as a registered nurse from St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago in 1953, Sister Anth-ony served as staff nurse, director of child care and social worker at St. Vincent Infant Home in Chicago for the next 17 years. During this time, Sister Anthony also earned a master’s degree from Loyola School of Social Work in Chicago.
From 1970 to 1984, Sister An-thony worked at DePaul Settle-ment and Day Nursery in Chi-cago, and was administrator at Seton Manor in Evansville, and then St. Vincent/Sarah Fisher Center in Farmington Hills, Mich. In 1984, Sister Anthony became planning coordinator for the Province and vocation director for Mater Dei Provincialate, first in Milwaukee and later in Evansville. She began her current ministry at Seton Residence in Evansville in 1991, after completing certification in Pastoral Studies at Loyola Institute for Ministry in New Orleans. Since that time, Sister Anthony has served as coordinator of the Retired Sisters Program, administrator, and assistant administrator and is currently assistant to the Sister Servant at Seton Residence.
Sister Mary Ruth Rault’s birthplace and hometown is New Orleans. After joining the Daughters of Charity in July 1949, she began work on a bachelor of science degree at Font-bonne College in St. Louis and completed it in 1954. For 13 years, she was a teacher at St. Vincent Schools in Perryville, Mo., and San Francisco; St. Louise de Marillac School, St. Louis, and Our Lady of Talpa School, Los Angeles.
For the next 11 years, Sister Mary Ruth served in business offices at De Paul Hospital in St. Louis and Providence Hospital in Mobile, and then began a new ministry through Providence Hospital in Southfield, Mich., where she worked in pastoral care and jail ministry for 11 years. Roles Sister Mary Ruth filled for the following four years include serving with the Team for Justice in Detroit and acting as director of Vincent House Family Shelter in Fort Wayne. After 14 years as chaplain for the Catholic Jail Ministry in Saginaw, Sister Mary Ruth began volunteering at the Seton Cancer Institute at St. Mary’s of Michigan Hospital. She moved to Seton Residence in Evansville in 2007, where she is active in pastoral care and the Ministry of Prayer.
Sister Emmanuel Schott was born in Buffalo, N.Y. She joined the Daughters in December 1949 and spent almost two years as a student at St. Joseph College in Emmitsburg and was an assistant for postulants and the seminary. The next 17 years were spent as a student at St. John’s University and a resident pharmacist and director of pharmacy at hospitals in New York, Wash-ington, Troy, Norfolk, Detroit and Southfield. During this time, Sister Emmanuel earned a bachelor’s and master’s in pharmacy-related fields. Beginning in 1969, Sister Emmanuel spent the next three years as an associate professor and a student at Universities in Detroit and Ann Arbor and completed a second master’s in medical care administration.
Her ministry for the next 23 years included serving as assistant administrator for St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville; executive director for the Daughters of Charity Shared Services Association, St. Louis; director of planning for St. Vincent Hospital, Birmingham; a missionary in Taiwan, and an outreach wor-ker for St. John’s Parish in Charleston, Miss. After helping reorganize a hospital in Angola, Africa, and serving as a planning consultant for Mater Dei Provincialate in Evansville, Sister Emmanuel began a parish and outreach ministry in Fayette, Port Gibson and Guntersville, Miss. She moved to Seton Residence in Evansville in 2007, where she continues her previous ministry to the Hispanic population and serves in the Ministry of Prayer.
50-year Jubilarians
Sister Sheila Carney’s place of birth was Utica, N.Y. She was officially received into the Com-munity in April 1959. Sister earned a bachelor’s in education from St. Joseph’s in Emmitsburg and began a 30-year ministry in education in 1961. During that time she taught at schools in Washington, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi and Illinois. Sister Sheila was principal at St. James Major School in Prichard, Ala., from 1982 to 1988. She became a business manager from 1991 to 2006 at the following schools in Illinois: Marillac High School, Northfield; Loyola Academy, Wilmette, and Josephinum High School, Chicago. Sister Sheila is currently serving as assistant to the provincial secretary at Mater Dei Provincialate in Evansville.
Sister Julia Huiskamp is a native of Keokuk, Iowa. She earned a bachelor of arts de-gree from Manhattanville Coll-ege in Purchase, N. Y., in 1957 and joined the Daughters in June 1959. After another year of college classes, Sister Julia taught school for the next four years at Notre Dame School in Price, Utah, and St. Patrick School in St. Louis. She re-turned to college and completed a master’s in social work at St. Louis University in 1967, before spending the next 18 years as director of the Maril-lac Social Center and Rendu House in Chicago. Sister be-gan her current job as director of the Griffin Homes Community Center in East St. Louis in 1985. Throughout her ministry, Sister Julia has been recognized for her advocacy work on be-half of people in poverty.
Sister Jacinta Reiter was born in Evansville. She entered the Daughters of Charity in St. Louis in January 1956. Her first ministry was assisting in the Treasurer’s Office at Marillac Provincial House in St. Louis. From 1960 to 1967, Sister Ja-cinta worked in business offices at hospitals in Los Angeles, St. Louis and Alton, Ill. After completing a bachelor of arts degree at Marillac College in 1971, she served in parishes in Indianapolis, Saginaw, and Evansville. Sister Jacinta worked for almost five years in Pastoral Care at St. Mary Hospital in Mil-waukee and completed certification in that field in 1979. Her next mission was Allen Mem-orial Home in Mobile, where she served in the Social Services Department, until returning to pastoral care for St. Mary’s Hospital and Seton Manor in Evansville from 1983 to 1990. Sister Jacinta continued working in pastoral care at Provi-dence Hospital in Mobile, until she became hospitality coordinator at Mater Dei Provincial House in Evansville in 1998. In August 2002, Sister was missioned to Seton Residence and serves in the Ministry of Prayer.