Norbert Marie Schares

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

Our beloved Sister Norbert Marie Schares died peacefully at 10:10 a.m., Wednesday, October 23, 2013, in Notre Dame Health Care, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Mankato, Minnesota. A few months ago, she was diagnosed with cancer, and sisters and staff were frequent visitors in her last days.

The funeral Mass for Sister Norbert Marie, with Father Eugene Stenzel as presider, will be at 10:30 a.m., Monday, October 28, in Good Counsel Chapel. Burial of her cremains in our cemetery will follow at a later date. The vigil service will be at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 27. We extend our sympathy to her sisters Florence (Alban) Dittmer, Rosalea (Alfred) Schmelzer, and Agnes (Hank) Schnelle, her nieces, including Sister Roxanne Schares, SSND, and nephews and their families, her former colleagues, and her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Josephine (Arend) Schares, six sisters, Henrietta Simons, Theodora Breyfogle, Blanche Schmitz, Rita Michels, and two who died in infancy, and five brothers, Norbert, Louis, Jerome, Kenneth and Adam.

The eleventh of fifteen children, Sister Norbert Marie was born March 14, 1931, on the family farm near Gilbertville, Iowa. Because she was not expected to live, she was baptized the next day by the pastor of Immaculate Conception Church and given the name Hilda Mary. As a young child she developed a strong work ethic, noting, "When I was four years old, I had to fill the cob basket and bring in split wood for our big heating stove. We brought water in with a syrup pail and did dishes with a dishpan on a bench. We didn't have running water or electricity then."*

In 1936, at the age of five, Hilda started school at Immaculate Conception School, taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She received her First Holy Communion in 1937 and was confirmed in 1941. She wrote, "It was at this time that I thought about becoming a sister but didn't think much more about it until I was about twenty. During those years between ages ten and twenty, I felt that I would do God's will when it came to make a decision about entering religious life." Following eighth- grade graduation, she stayed home to work on the farm, doing both outside chores and household tasks. She commented, "I was fourteen when I started baking bread and fifteen when I started making pies at home. I just learned from watching my sisters."* She also provided help for other farm families, sometimes staying with the family, and earned a wage of fifty cents an hour.

Sister Norbert Marie continued her vocation story: "When I was twenty, I felt the grace of my vocation when I had the opportunity to spend a few quiet days at Good Counsel in Mankato at reception and profession ceremonies. I was so happy that I felt like I was in a retreat. The quiet, peaceful place and the charity of the sisters inspired me. Everyone was so kind and happy." Her pastor highly recommended her: "Hilda Schares is a member of our parish and she is one of our best girls, who has evident signs of a vocation to the religious life." She entered the SSND candidature in August 1951. As a second-year candidate, she was missioned to Springbrook, Iowa, where she provided home service for the sisters and another candidate. On July 20, 1953, she was received into the novitiate and given the name Sister Norbert Marie. She professed first vows on July 21, 1954. She wrote about her first mission experience: "My first assignment was to help in the priests' and guests' department. I was so happy that I could stay in the motherhouse. I spent five happy years there." Eventually this work expanded so that she cooked in the health care unit in Fourier Hall (now called Marian Hall), and worked in the laundry. Her description of her work typifies what many home service sisters did: "We did all the cleaning, laundry, cooking and baking. We took care of the gardens, the apples and the chickens. I worked in the laundry when we had that first habit and starched wimple. Sometimes we'd have to make sixteen pounds of starch and wash 500 sheets. I didn't mind working because I'd had to work at home, too."* She enjoyed spending time with the sisters in the infirmary and Fourier Hall.

In 1959, Sister Norbert Marie was transferred to St. Agnes, St. Paul, where she assisted Sister Martha Schumann for two years. She had charge of the laundry, helped with cooking, and took care of feeding transients who came to the convent asking for a meal. In the succeeding years she provided community service at St. Stanislaus, St. Paul (1961-62); Good Counsel (1962-67); John Ireland, St. Peter (1967-71); St. Agnes (1971-73); SS. Peter & Paul, Mankato (1973-75); St. Francis Xavier, Sartell (1975-77); and Adsum, St. Cloud (1977-83). In 1983, she moved to St. Joseph, Cresco, Iowa, where she visited and brought Communion to the sick, elderly and infirm of the parish in their homes, the nursing home and the hospital. In addition, she helped in the school lunchroom and with cooking and cleaning in the rectory. Well-loved by the people of Cresco, she continued in this capacity until 1991. She spent the next two years in St. Paul, first as a visitor to the elderly at St. Francis de Sales, and then as a member of Sisters Care.

Sister Norbert Marie's final assignment was community service at Good Counsel, beginning in 1993. She helped with the sisters in St. Joseph Hall Health Care and was responsible for "Martha's Inn," the former academy home ec room transformed into a kitchen for sisters' use. She continued to use her baking skills and developed a wide reputation for her bread and pies. In her own words, "Now I bake pies. When anyone orders a pie, then I make it. The sisters want one for their birthdays, so I make pies. Baking is more my cup of tea."* Not only sisters, but also staff members and people of the Mankato area ordered pies and sweet treats from Sister Norbert Marie. Knowing what each sister liked, she often made treats for sisters in health care and delivered them herself. At night, when she could not sleep, she could be found in Martha's Inn baking pies. Her pies were an important part of the SSND Craft Fair and she often recruited sisters' help in peeling bushels of apples in preparation. The black walnuts that Sister Norbert Marie carefully shelled and packed in jars were another Craft Fair specialty.

Sister Norbert Marie took an active part in community life at Good Counsel. Until a few weeks ago, she led prayer for the sisters in Notre Dame Health Care and spent time after prayer to visit with each sister. When she met a sister in the corridor, she always greeted her by name. She also enjoyed card games, especially Golf.

Throughout her life, Sister Norbert Marie followed Jesus, her Shepherd, wanting for nothing herself, and seeing to it that others did not go wanting either. May she now enjoy eternal life " and fill heaven with the aroma of freshly-baked pie!