Sister Mary Roman Adam, SSND

Our beloved Sister Mary Roman Adam, 93, died at 4:00 p.m., September 8, 2017 in Notre Dame Health Care, Mankato, Minnesota. Her sister, Therese Schwinghammer, her cousin, Sister Helen Marie Plourde, SSND, and other sisters and pastoral care staff were with her when she died. It was fitting that she died on a Marian feast; in an early autobiography, Sister Mary Roman had written that Mary led her to follow Jesus as a School Sister of Notre Dame. The Funeral Liturgy, with Father Eugene Stenzel as presider, will be held Wednesday, September 13, at 10:30 a.m. in Our Lady of Good Counsel Chapel. A prayer service of remembrance will be held at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, with visitation until the Funeral Liturgy. Sister Mary Roman requested that her body be donated to science. A burial date will be determined later. We extend our sympathy to her sister, Therese (Robert) Schwinghammer, her sister-in law, Rita Adam, her nieces and nephews and their families, her cousins, friends and colleagues, and her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, and SSND Associates. She was preceded in death by her parents, Roman and Marguerite (Robertson) Adam, her brother Roman and her sister Marian McMullen. The first of four children, Sister Mary Roman was born February 25, 1924, in the Frogtown area of St. Paul. She was baptized Lorraine Margaret on March 9 at St. Agnes Church. Her father and his brother were the owners of Adam Brothers Furniture Store and Funeral Home, located in the same neighborhood. At the age of 10 months, Lorraine was featured in a front page St. Paul Pioneer Press article because the family dog saved her from suffocating in her crib. Lorraine and her two younger sisters and brother attended St. Agnes Grade School, taught by School Sisters of Notre Dame, with Lorraine starting first grade in 1930. She traced her vocation to her First Communion Day, but did not tell anyone at the time. Lorraine graduated from eighth grade in 1938 and, because St. Agnes did not yet have a four-year high school, she enrolled in St. Joseph Academy where she was taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Following high school graduation in 1942, Lorraine was employed in the accounting office of The Golden Rule, a St. Paul department store. Her employer’s letter of recommendation stated, “Her progress during this period has been exceptional. During a period of six years, she has advanced from a routine clerical position to the highest accounting position we have for women in the office.” Sister Mary Roman wrote in her autobiography, “During these years I knew that I was being called to religious life. After much inner struggle, I went on a pilgrimage to St. Anne de Beaupre’s Shrine in Quebec in July 1948. Upon my return at the end of July, I resigned my position and requested to enter the School Sisters of Notre Dame. I was 24 years old at the time. I was accepted and entered the congregation on August 28, 1948.” Her letter of application contained a precursor of the work that would occupy much of her SSND life: “I enjoy figure work very much.” As a second-year candidate, Lorraine was sent to St. Andrew School in St. Paul, where she taught 41 fourth graders, “a new experience, but wonderful.” At her reception into the novitiate in 1950, she was given the name of both her father and brother, Sister Mary Roman. Following profession of vows in 1951, she taught intermediate grades at St. Joseph, Cresco, Iowa, for three years. She then taught junior high at St. Stanislaus in St. Paul (1954-57) and Immaculate Conception in Gilbertville, Iowa (1957-60). In 1960, she was missioned as principal and teacher of grades six through eight at St. Mary, New Trier. Also in 1960, she completed her bachelor’s degree from Mount Mary College in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, events in the international SSND congregation became instrumental in shaping the remaining years of Sister Mary Roman’s life and ministry. In 1956, the decision was made to move the generalate (the congregation’s headquarters) from Munich to Rome. A villa about 15 miles from the Vatican was purchased, and the general leadership moved to Rome in 1957. In 1961, at a celebration in New Trier for two newly-ordained nephews of the Mankato Provincial, Mother M. Bernardia Gores, she told Sister Mary Roman that help was needed in Rome. One month later, Sister Mary Roman was called to Mankato, where she met the SSND international leader, Mother M. Ambrosia Roecklein, who told Sister Mary Roman that the generalate needed office help and a driver. She asked Sister Mary Roman to come to Rome in August. In August, Sister Mary Roman, accompanied by Sister Mary Julia Hale, traveled by train to New York and by ocean liner to Naples, Italy. At the generalate, she settled into a ministry of clerical work for the general council, typing letters and documents in both German and English and assisting with accounting. She also assisted with driving, as their lay driver could no longer be asked to drive on Sundays and holidays. She soon found out another reason why her help was needed: the decision had been made to build a new and larger generalate closer to the Vatican. Sister Mary Roman visited the site almost daily to supervise the construction. The “ground stone” was placed on November 21, 1961, but it wasn’t until January 1964 that the move was made to the new building. The building was still not finished, and there was a need to improvise in several areas. During this time also, the Second Vatican Council convened in Rome and SSND held a general chapter in Munich, both in 1962. Sister Mary Roman was privileged to be present at the opening of the Vatican Council and wrote, “By the time we arrived the sun was shining and Pope John XXIII was ready with cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests and people from all around the globe. What a thrill to be among so many.” SSND held another General Chapter in 1968, this time in Rome. The position of general treasurer was created then, and Sister Mary Roman wrote, “It was at this time that I became the first general treasurer, even though I had done the same work previously.” That work involved dealing with bankers, providing currency exchanges, working with province reports in both German and English, and watching over and working with investments, to name a few responsibilities, and at the same time using her foresight and creativity to make the best use of SSND resources. She also became a founding member of the English-speaking General Treasurers in Rome. Sister Mary Roman had several opportunities to visit European provinces and especially treasured a visit to Romania in 1971 while it was still behind the Iron Curtain. After 14 years in Rome, Sister Mary Roman returned to Mankato in 1975 and became the business administrator of the motherhouse. Four years later she was elected to the provincial council as coordinator of temporalities (treasurer) and continued her administration of the Hill buildings and their maintenance. When her second term on the provincial council ended eight years later, she was asked to be province treasurer, since that office was no longer a part of the council. She continued in this role until 1997. In a 1993 recommendation for a consultant position with a national religious treasurers group it was stated, “Sister Mary Roman was a key figure in developing a 20-year financial plan for the Mankato Province. . . . She has considerable experience with government entitlement programs, since our community makes use of these programs. . . .” The recommendation also described her as “energized through planning, analysis and challenge. She sees creative options easily and is willing to pursue them to conclusion.” During her years as treasurer, she also worked cooperatively with the treasurers of all the North American SSND provinces in developing interprovincial property and liability insurance, a cooperative investment plan, and other finance-related projects. When Sister Mary Roman retired as provincial treasurer in 1997, members of the province gathered for a Toast/Roast in her honor. The theme of the gathering was from Micah 6:8. In many ways, she was thanked for acting justly, loving tenderly, and walking humbly with her God. Following a sabbatical year, she continued her financial service as investment fund administrator for several provinces until 2002. She spent the 2001-03 years as a community member in the interprovincial novitiate in St. Louis and then returned to Mankato, where she gave community service in a variety of areas. As long as she was able, she enjoyed long walks, often walking down the Hill and then up the city hill to the Mankato hilltop shopping area. She also read the Wall Street Journal daily (even during retreat; it was her “spiritual reading”). And now, may Sister Mary Roman eternally reap the rewards of her life of acting justly, loving tenderly and walking humbly with her God (and enjoy a perpetual subscription to the Wall Street Journal as well).