Sister Vincent Marie Teuber, SSND

Our beloved Sister Vincent Marie Teuber, 83, died peacefully at 4:15 pm. on Sunday, January 22, 2017, surrounded by several sisters and staff members.  She died as the group prayed the Hail Mary and its phrase, “now and at the hour of our death.” About a week earlier she had developed pneumonia, which, combined with other health issues, caused her to be hospitalized.  When it was determined that she would not recover, her wish was to “go home” to Good Counsel Hill, where sisters kept vigil with her for the remaining two days of her life.   The Funeral Liturgy, with Father Eugene Stenzel as presider, will be held Thursday, January 26, at 10:30 a.m. in Our Lady of Good Counsel Chapel, followed by burial in the Good Counsel Cemetery. A prayer service of remembrance will be held at 9:00 a.m., on Thursday morning.  We extend our sympathy to her sisters Theresa Downey, Margie Murphy, Mary Lou Lee, and Linda Mistysyn, and her brothers Lawrence, Vincent, Francis, Alphonse, Herman, and Victor 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, Vincent and Catherine (Siebenaler) Teuber, her sister, Rita Gerten, and her brother, Charles.   Sister Vincent Marie was born November 21, 1933, on the family farm near New Trier, Minnesota.  She was the fourth child in the family, which eventually included thirteen children.  Five days later she was baptized Florence Catherine at the Church of St. Mary in New Trier. In her autobiography, she described life on the Teuber farm: “Growing up on a farm gave us many responsibilities.  There were cows to milk, chickens to feed and gardens to weed; there was hay to stack, grain to shock, water to pump and carry to the house, wood to stack and bring to the house for the wood stove; and much canning of vegetables and many dishes to wash.  With nine children younger than I, there were babies to take care of.  All of these jobs taught me valuable lessons.”   In 1939, Florence started first grade at St. Mary’s School, New Trier, where she had School Sisters of Notre Dame as her teachers.  She later wrote, “When I began first grade I did not know how to speak English, because our family spoke German at home.  I do not know how I learned to read, but I did.  Those wonderful Notre Dames!”  She received her First Holy Communion in 1942, and was confirmed during her eighth grade year.  Sister Felicitas Blaeser, one of her teachers, encouraged her to attend Good Counsel Academy in Mankato as an aspirant, which she did in the fall of 1947.  She graduated from the Academy in 1951 and entered the SSND candidature in August.  The next year, as a second-year candidate, she started her practice teaching at St. John’s School in Mankato with a class of 40 third and fourth graders.  Two months later, she was transferred to St. Bernard School, Cologne, where she taught 22 first and second graders.   As she and her classmates prepared for reception into the novitiate, they received word that the candidates one year younger than they would also be received, because the candidature would now be just one year.  Florence and her fourteen classmates were joined by 25 first-year candidates, making a class of 40 novices.  On reception day, she was given the name Sister Vincent Marie, chosen in honor of her father.  She professed first vows on July 21, 1954.   Sister Vincent Marie’s first teaching assignment was SS. Peter & Paul Boarding School, New Hradec, North Dakota, where she taught grades one and two.  She commented on the unique circumstances of boarding school life: “This meant teaching all day and supervising the boarders after school and again after the supper hour.  My added supervision was the girls’ dormitory.”  After four years in New Hradec, Sister Vincent Marie returned to Minnesota in 1958 where she taught first grade at Sacred Heart School in St. Paul.  Her teaching experience also included St. Dominic, Northfield (1962-63); St. John the Baptist, Dayton (1963-68); St. Stanislaus, St. Paul (1968-69); St. John Vianney, South St. Paul (1969-71); and St. John the Baptist, Mankato (1971-73).  At St. John Vianney, she lived with the Sisters of St. Casimir, a Lithuanian community from Chicago.  During these years of teaching, Sister Vincent Marie earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Mount Mary College (1963); a master’s degree in elementary education from Mankato State University (1972); and finally a sixth year administration specialist degree from Mankato State (1981).   In 1973, Sister Vincent Marie became principal of SS. Peter & Paul School, Mankato, a position she held until 1983.  She then moved to St. Casimir, Wells, where she also served as principal.  In an article in the Wells Mirror, she commented about value-centered education, which means “teaching morals and the Gospel.  We have the advantage when it comes to discipline.  We can use the lessons of Jesus. We can ask the children, ‘What would Jesus do?’” While in Wells, she received the Bishop’s Medal of Honor for her service to Catholic Education in the Diocese of Winona.  In 1996, she and Sister Therese Collison moved to Dickinson, North Dakota, to become principals of two Catholic grade schools.  However, they were unable to gain North Dakota certification and came back to Minnesota after one year.  From 1997 until 2005, they both served at St. Raphael School, Springfield, where Sister Vincent Marie taught second grade, and Sister Therese was principal.  Sister Vincent Marie was content to return to teaching and enjoyed interacting with her students.  In February 2003, she was hospitalized in Rochester for three months with a rare, life-threatening blood disease.  She later wrote, “The doctors were able to save my life ‘with help from above’ as they called it.  My recovery was also due to the millions of prayers offered by many, many people.” As a result of this illness, she retired from full-time teaching and served as librarian at St. Raphael until 2005.  At that time she moved to St. Peter, where she volunteered at John Ireland School as part of the Foster Grandparent Program and at the Church of St. Peter until 2013.   Throughout her teaching and administration experiences, Sister Vincent Marie loved being part of Catholic Education.  She believed in doing whatever she could to keep Catholic Education viable.  Not one to make headlines, she often worked quietly behind the scenes, encouraging teachers and students alike to work to their full potential. She received the Bishop’s Medal for Service from the New Ulm Diocese in appreciation for her work in Catholic Education there.   One of the high points in Sister Vincent Marie’s life was her Silver Jubilee renewal experience in Rome in 1979.  She especially appreciated the prayerful inspiration of Sister Mary Margaret Johanning, the SSND international leader. Sister Vincent Marie also enjoyed the opportunity to visit other European countries following her time in Rome.   In 2013, Sister Vincent Marie completely retired and moved to Good Counsel. Various health issues continued to plague her, but she participated as fully as possible in Hill activities.  She was a member of the library committee with special responsibility for cataloging books.  She volunteered to help pick out music for daily liturgies. She also taught in the Learning Center, a highpoint of her day. And she engaged in one of her favorite activities – Scrabble.  A classmate described her as the “kindest, gentlest person I know.”  Both her family and her SSND community were extremely important to her. She wrote at the time of her 60th Jubilee in 2014, “Living together in community like the early Christians enabled me to live the vows that I professed, and in response to this fidelity, God delights in me.”   “God delights in me.”  Sister Vincent Marie’s funeral liturgy theme, “Only this I want, but to know the Lord” ties in well with her Jubilee reflection.  May she now fully know the Lord, and may she and God delight in each other’s presence.