Mary Schilling Schilling

Mankato Mortuary
1001 N. Riverfront Drive
Mankato, MN 56001
(507) 388-2202

Our beloved Sister Mary (M. Eustachia) Schilling, 101, died peacefully at 1:05 a.m., Wednesday, March 6, 2013, in Notre Dame Health Care Center, Our Lady of Good Counsel Campus, Mankato, Minnesota. Sister Mary was the last School Sister of Notre Dame in Mankato who was older than Good Counsel which celebrated its centenary in 2012. Her grandniece, Renee Schunk, was with her when she died, and other family members, including her sister Colette, had visited earlier in the evening.

The funeral Mass for Sister Mary, with Father Eugene Stenzel as presider, will be at 10:30 a.m., Monday, March 11, in Good Counsel Chapel, followed by burial in our cemetery. The vigil service will be at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 10. We extend our sympathy to her only surviving sister, Colette Schunk, to her sister-in-law, Clara, to her nieces and nephews and their families, to her former colleagues and students, and to her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She was preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Margaret (Pohlen) Schilling, two brothers, John and Joseph, and five sisters, Margaret Zins, Anna Turbes, Susan Turbes, Elizabeth Neudecker, and Esther Cadwallader.

Sister Mary, the fifth girl in the family, was born February 1, 1912, on a farm outside of Hospers, a small town in northwestern Iowa. At her baptism one week later in St. Anthony Church, she received the name Mary. In her autobiography, she commented about her name, "This has always been a source of joy for me, since any one of my four older sisters could have received that name." The Schilling family grew as two more girls and two boys were born over the next several years.

In the spring following her sixth birthday, Mary accompanied her older sisters to the Catholic school conducted by Franciscan Sisters from Dubuque, Iowa. Mary wrote, "After a few days I became very ill and was advised by our doctor to have my tonsils and adenoids removed. This interrupted my school days for a while, as well as ended my education in parochial schools, since that fall we moved to Wanda, Minnesota, where I continued my grade and high school in public schools. However, I was fortunate in having a good home, and the pastor and ladies of the parish instructed us in religion on Saturdays." In August 1920, she received her First Holy Communion at the age of eight, and was confirmed that same fall "because the Bishop's visits were so infrequent." She also felt blessed that three of her teachers in public school were Catholic. "My eighth grade teacher, especially was very conscientious, and would always remind us of going to Confession on the Thursdays before First Fridays."

After graduating from Lamberton High School in 1930, Mary stayed home to help for two years. Later she wrote "It was during the time of a parish mission, conducted by an Oblate Father, that I decided to become a sister, although I had thought about it during my grade school years. In the spring of 1932 I visited Good Counsel in Mankato, and later applied to the Candidature for permission to enter. I was welcomed to my convent home on August 27, 1932." In an article published in the Catholic Spirit in 1998, we read that she was the only one of her family who did not attend Catholic schools, but her sisters and brothers "influenced her to enter the convent with their words of praise about the sisters who taught them."

After studying in the candidature for one year, Mary was missioned to St. Matthew School, St. Paul, where she taught second grade. At the close of the school year, she returned to Good Counsel to prepare for her reception into the Novitiate. She continued her story, "On July 18th, my father's birthday, I entered the novitiate as Novice Mary Eustachia, called so since our pastor's name was Reverend Eustace Frederick. Later when we had the privilege of resuming our baptismal names, I quickly and gladly became Sister Mary." She professed first vows on July 19, 1935.

Sister Mary spent the next forty-five years as a teacher, first of intermediate grades, and later of junior and senior high school students. In Minnesota, she taught at the following schools: SS. Peter & Paul, Mankato; St. Anthony, Lismore; All Saints, Madison Lake; St. Anne, Wabasso; St. Agnes, Sacred Heart and Holy Childhood, in St. Paul; St. Mark, Shakopee; St. Michael, St. Michael; and St. Mary of the Lake, Plymouth. In Iowa, she taught at Immaculate Conception/Don Bosco in Gilbertville three different times. She also spent three years at St. Pius School, St. Pius, North Dakota. In 1945 she earned a B.A. in education from Loras College, Dubuque, and in 1967, an M.A. in secondary counseling from St. Thomas College, St. Paul. While teaching Spanish at Don Bosco in the 1970s, she chaperoned groups of students as they visited Mexico. She also acted as a chaperone for a group of Mexican students who visited Washington, D.C.

In 1979, Sister Mary came to Good Counsel Academy in Mankato. It was the final school year for the academy and Sister Mary's final year as a classroom teacher. After working as a parish minister at St. Francis de Sales Parish, St. Paul, from 1980 until 1982, she moved to St. Andrew Convent, St. Paul, where, in addition to helping with parish ministry, she worked as a liturgical seamstress for a company in Minneapolis for two years. An illustrated full-page brochure states, "Need a stole, chasuble, amice? Vestments custom made to order, very reasonably. Call Sister Mary Schilling, SSND." From 1984 until 1989, she was co-director of the G.E.D. program at Presentation Continuing Education Center in Chicago, and helped African-Americans ranging in age from sixteen to sixty-five receive their high school diploma. She wrote at that time, "Our program is unique. It is an entirely individualized program where students progress at their own speed. . . . I am realizing how much my life has been enriched through my ministry. This ministry to the very poor in a high crime area has proved to be the most inspiring, as well as the most rewarding period of my life. I thank God for these rich years of my life in Chicago."

Sister Mary returned to St. Andrew Convent in St. Paul in 1989, and stayed until 1999. In addition to being a Eucharistic minister, she helped in the school and parish wherever she could, whether it was stuffing envelopes and assembling bulletins or helping parishioners prepare and serve meals at the Dorothy Day Center. When Theresa Living Center needed help with mailings, she took the bus and volunteered her time there. The article in the Catholic Spirit described other aspects of her life at St. Andrew: "She enjoys sewing. She also does embroidery, primarily on Wednesdays, when the parish women gather for craft day. . . . Now that she is retired, Sister Mary is sitting on the other side of the desk. She attends as many of the seminars for seniors at the University of St. Thomas that time permits. "These classes offer opportunities that you just don't get very often,' she said. "I always thought that when I retired there would be nothing to do. But I found out there's not enough time for everything.' " She also enjoyed traveling, especially with her classmate and good friend, Sister Sheila McCall.

In 1999, Sister Mary returned to Good Counsel. After she moved into health care, she endeared herself to the personnel. Her 100th birthday in 2012 was observed quietly with short visits by sisters and family members, several of whom had visited her often in her last years.

May Sister Mary, who lived her vows for over seventy-seven years in the presence of so many of God's people, now experience eternal joy with the God whom she served so faithfully in her long and full life!