Sister Mary Edward, RSM (1903 - )
Great granddaughter of Franz Xavier Boeding (1796 - 1878)
Mary Elizabeth Boeding was born on a farm near St. Lucas, Fayette County, Iowa at ten a.m. on September 26, 1903. That afternoon, she was baptized in St. Luke's Catholic Church by her uncle, the Reverend Francis Xavier Boeding. Sponsors were uncle Herman Boeding and Tante Betha Schmitt Boeding.
She was four years old when the family moved to Seneca, Kansas in 1907. There she attended the parochial school, St. Peter and Paul Catholic School. At the age of eight, she made her first Holy Communion at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church on May 26, 1912. Father Lawrence Theis, OSB was pastor at the time.
In 1918, she graduated from the grade school. She remained at home one year to help her mother. In 1919, she entered Immaculate Conception Academy in Dubuque, Iowa. During her years at the academy, she worked in various jobs to help pay her tuition.
After her graduation from Immaculate Conception Academy, she attended short courses to qualify for a teacher's certificate in Kansas. Then she taught for two years in the one-room school across the road from the Boeding farm. Then she worked almost two years in the store of her sister Theresa in Seneca.
In June 1926, Mary accompanied her mother to Chicago to attend the Eucharistic Congress. After the Congress, mother returned to Seneca. Mary continued on a tour to the East with three girls from Wausau, Wisconsin, one a cousin, Louise Helling. The tour included the Sesquicentennial at Philadelphia, and visits to New York and Boston. In Canada they visited the shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre near Quebec; and the St. Joseph shrine in Montreal. Here they met the saintly Brother Andre who now (1981) is being considered for Canonization.
Later that summer there was a trip to San Antonio, Texas where I was stationed at St. Leo's Church. Then, on to Denver, Colorado. In Denver, she made a retreat in St. Rose Convent during which she definitely decided to enter religious life.
On February 14, 1927, she entered the Novitiate of the Sisters of Mercy on 17th and Milwaukee Streets, Denver Colorado. In August 1927, she was vested in the white veil of a Novice. This ceremony was attended her mother and Kathryn Wernert, a school mate from Norton, Kansas. At this time she received her name in religion, Sister Mary Edward.
Sister Mary Edward's first obedience (assignment) was to Durango, Colorado. There she taught the first grade. In 1937, she was assigned to St. Joseph's Catholic School in Denver, Colorado. Here, she was principal of the grade school, and again she taught the first grade.
In 1949, she was sent to Presentation (grade) School, in Denver. Here she had the combined role of teaching first grade, principal of the school and superior of the convent. In the years prior to 1962, there were brief assignments to Kansas City, Missouri and Greeley, Colorado, the exact dates are not known.
In the "early days", few nuns had completed their requirements for a college degree at the time of their profession of vows. Usually, at once, after the profession, they were assigned to teach. Then, in a series of "summer schools", they earned the credits for the degree. Gradually, teaching standards rose and nuns were no longer assigned as teachers before they had a college degree. To cope with this, many convents created new departments called Juniorate. The members of the Juniorate were the professed nuns who had not completed college work. In charge of the Juniorate was a nun with the title "Mistress of the Juniorate". The Juniorate for the Omaha Province of the Sisters of Mercy was located at St. Mary's College in Omaha, Nebraska. Sister Mary Edward was Mistress of the Juniorate for the years 1962 - 1966.
In 1966, Sister Mary Edward was transferred to Portland, Oregon where she served two years. This was followed by two years of service in Mercy Hospital in Roseburg, Oregon. In 1970 she returned to Mercy Hospital in Denver. This is where she entered religious life and received her training. Here her chief duty was in the hospital gift shop.