February 5, 2010
Sister Geraldine, Director of Adult Formation, remembered as joyful, looking for the best in life
Sister Geraldine Hedinger, 63, died Feb. 2 at Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand. Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
“When I think of Geraldine I think of joy,” said Benedictine Sister Kristine Harpenau. “She just had a joyful, loving spirit that I think was very inclusive, very loving,” she said. “And yet she could do the hard things too, when she had to.”
Sister Geraldine Hedinger, 63, died Feb. 2 at Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand.
She was born Nov. 6, 1946, in Ferdinand, the oldest of seven children of Joseph and Marie (Gessner) Hedinger. She entered the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand in 1964 and made her first profession of monastic vows in 1966 and her final profession in 1970.
She is survived by two brothers, Benjy Hedinger of Jasper and Joseph Hedinger of Goose Creek, S.C.; four sisters, Carolyn Hamer of Hidalgo, Texas, Connie Vahling of Peoria, Ill., Christy Hedinger of Bowling Green, Ky., and Michelle Kroll of Galesburg, Ill.; nieces and nephews; and members of her religious community. She was preceded in death by her parents.
A vigil service is scheduled Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. EST, with the funeral Mass on Saturday, Feb. 6, at 10:30 a.m. EST, at the monastery. Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger will preside.
Bishop Gettelfinger said he had “lost a very dear and faithful friend.” He said Sister Geraldine had touched thousands of lives over her most generous and dedicated life of teaching and modeling the spiritual life.
She worked tirelessly, Bishop Gettelfinger said. She was “a multi-talented and giant leader in our diocese.”
Sister Kristine, prioress of Monastery Immaculate Conception, recalled years of friendship, working together and living with her as far back as the 1970s. She knew Sister Geraldine then as “a woman who loved life. She enjoyed life, she really looked for the best in life.”
Her joy, along with her deep, underlying trust and faith, came from her relationship with God, said Sister Kris. “I also knew that she was very much a woman of prayer. That was really the core relationship, that relationship with God. It came through in everything she did, whether meeting people, working with the dioceses, or talking with someone one on one. I know she will be greatly missed by the people of the diocese and all the people she came in contact with.”
Sister Geraldine “always had a smile on her face and a positive attitude about everything,” said Marie Williams of Lafayette, Ind., and formerly the associate director of the Catholic Schools Office in the Diocese of Evansville.
Williams participated in a spiritual direction internship program directed by Sister Geraldine. “It was a precious and wonderful life-changing experience,” Williams said. “What a tremendous gift we have all experienced!”
“I had the blessing of working with Sister Geraldine when I served as a parish DRE for many years,” said Becky Epperson Siewers. “Joyful and uplifting, she was always trying to make others happy . . . . In this world of ‘me’s,’ she was all about taking care of others.”
Sister Geraldine earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from St. Benedict College in Ferdinand, and a master’s degree in elementary education from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill.
She taught at Holy Spirit, St. Theresa and Holy Rosary schools in Evansville, at St. Philip School in Posey County, and at Mater Dei High School in Evansville. She served as principal at St. Matthew School in Mount Vernon and at Holy Redeemer School in Evansville.
She was a pastoral associate at St. Clement Church in Boonville from 1989 to 1996, facilitator of the LIMEX program for the diocese from 1995 to 1999, and diocesan director of adult formation from 1996 to the present.
Contributions in memory of Sister Geraldine may be made to the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand.