Sister Valeria (Isabel Marie) Theis, SSND

Our beloved Sister Valeria (Isabel Marie) Theis, 87, died at 10:39 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, in Notre Dame Health Care, Mankato, Minnesota. Her condition gradually declined in the past weeks, and she entered Hospice the morning of her death. A member of the Notre Dame Health Care staff was praying the rosary with her when she died. The Funeral Liturgy, with Father Andrew Olsem as presider, will be held Friday, March 24, at 10:30 a.m. in Our Lady of Good Counsel Chapel, followed by burial in the Good Counsel Cemetery. Visitation is scheduled for 5:00-7:00 p.m. on Thursday, with a vigil prayer service at 7:00 p.m. We extend our sympathy to her nieces and nephews and their families, her friends, former students and colleagues, and her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She was preceded in death by her parents William and Isabel (Lenzmeier) Theis, her sisters Lucille Pauly, Jeanette Wolf, Georgia Rose Theis, Jean Marie (Luverna) Theis, SSND, Alice Kopp, Annabelle Theis, SSND, Evelyn Theis and Marjorie Theis (both of whom died in infancy), and her brothers Harold and Alvin. Sister Valeria was born August 1, 1929, on the family farm near Marystown, Minnesota. The ninth child and seventh daughter in the family, she was baptized ten days later at St. Mary of the Purification Church in Marystown and given the name Valeria Veronica. Growing up on the farm, where all children participated in daily chores, giving them a strong work ethic, Valeria also benefitted from the strong faith of her parents. In 1934 Valeria began first grade at St. Mary of the Purification School, with School Sisters of Notre Dame as her teachers. After completing eighth grade in 1942, she enrolled as an aspirant at Good Counsel Academy in Mankato. Two of her sisters (Luverna and Georgia Rose) had preceded her to the aspiranture and two of her mother’s sisters (Sisters Leander and Jeanette Lenzmeier) and her father’s aunt (Sister Maximilla Theis) were already School Sisters of Notre Dame, so she was very familiar with sisters. After finishing high school where, again, her teachers were School Sisters of Notre Dame, she wrote, “The School Sisters of Notre Dame were my teachers, inspiration and ideal for twelve consecutive years.” Valeria entered the SSND candidature in 1946, spending the year as a college student. The following year she taught “forty-eight lively fourth graders” at St. Matthew School, St. Paul. Reception into the novitiate was scheduled for July 1948, but because of a congenital back problem, she was advised to go home. After back surgery in 1951, she was given clearance to re-enter the candidature and did so on December 30. Her sister, Annabelle, was already a candidate, and both Valeria and Annabelle were received into the novitiate in July 1952. Both were given forms of their parents’ names: Valeria became Sister Isabel Marie and Annabelle became Sister William Marie. Later both returned to their baptismal names. Following profession of first vows in 1953, Sister Isabel Marie began her teaching ministry with a focus on junior high students. She taught at St. Francis de Sales, St. Paul (1953-54); Assumption, Cresco, Iowa (1954-56); St. Matthew, St. Paul (1956-61), where she had previously taught as a candidate and as a lay teacher; St. Michael, St. Michael (1961-63); St. Joseph, Red Wing (1963-65); Sacred Heart, St. Paul (1965-66); Blessed Sacrament, Waterloo (1966-68); St. Mary, Worthington (1969-71); St. Peter, Canby, where she was also the principal (1971-77); St. Francis de Sales, St. Paul (1977-82); and Shakopee Area Catholic School (1982-83). She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of St. Catherine in 1961 and a master’s degree in education from Loyola University, Chicago, in 1971. From 1983 until 1988 she cared for her mother, who lived in Shakopee, and coordinated the religious education program at St. John the Baptist, Jordan. Following her mother’s death, Sister Valeria moved to the convent in New Prague and continued working in Jordan until 1991. She then resumed her junior high teaching ministry, joining Sister Annabelle at Holy Childhood School, St. Paul, where Sister Annabelle was the principal. Sister Valeria continued at Holy Childhood until 1996, when she became family life coordinator at St. Francis de Sales. At that time, Sisters Valeria and Annabelle moved into a home on Blair Avenue in St. Paul. From 1998 until 2000, Sister Valeria served as a receptionist at the Griggs-Midway Building in St. Paul. In 2000, she began ten years of service in parish pastoral ministry at St. James and St. Francis de Sales parishes. In her places of ministry, Sister Valeria was well thought of among the people she served. Both Sisters Valeria and Annabelle moved to Good Counsel in 2010. Sister Valeria used her seamstress skills as she worked in the sewing room for several years. In addition to mending, hemming and a variety of other services for sisters, she also designed fleece hats and crocheted booties for the annual Craft Fair. While living in St. Paul, Sisters Valeria and Annabelle developed a special bond with an immigrant family. The sisters provided child care and helped prepare the children to receive the sacraments. The children called Sister Valeria “Grandma,” a term that she used to refer to herself when visiting with health care staff at Good Counsel. The family faithfully continued to visit the sisters in Mankato, often attending Sunday Liturgy with them. Family and family connections were very important to Sister Valeria. She knew the generations and branches on the family tree well. She stayed connected to her nieces and nephews and their families and was proud of the fact that many extended family members were School Sisters of Notre Dame. Sister Valeria also enjoyed travel and remarked that she worked part time at a funeral home to earn a little extra money for her vacations. Family members shared that she was an excellent cook, and “loved her coffee.” The last of her generation in her family, Sister Valeria is now living the words of St. Francis – “It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” May she fully rejoice as she celebrates eternal life!