Sister Mary Padua Unterburger, SSND

Our beloved Sister Mary Padua Unterburger, 87, died peacefully and somewhat unexpectedly at 3:30 p.m., January 2, 2015, in Notre Dame Health Care, Mankato, Minnesota. For the past few weeks, her difficulty in breathing required the use of oxygen, and on the morning of her death, she asked to be placed in Hospice care. Sisters from her Notre Dame second floor community gathered and prayed with her when it became apparent that she was dying. The funeral Mass for Sister Padua, with Father Andrew Olsem as presider, will be at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, January 8, in Good Counsel Chapel, Mankato. Because Sister Padua had requested that her body be cremated immediately after death, her cremains will be buried in our cemetery following the Mass on Thursday. The vigil service will be at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. We extend our sympathy to her sister Bertha Moser, her brother-in-law Ray Buttenhoff, her nieces and nephews and their families, her friends, former colleagues and students, and her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She was preceded in death by her parents, Math and Mary (Schmitt) Unterberger, brothers Carl, Clarence and Eugene, and a sister, Lucille Buttenhoff. In her autobiography, Sister Padua wrote that on "March 9, 1927, Mr. and Mrs. Math Unterburger and their three sons welcomed me, the first girl, into the family. I was named Mary Theresa. Two more girls completed the family." Mary Theresa was born on a farm near Pearl Lake in Stearns County, Minnesota and was baptized at Holy Cross Church, Pearl Lake, on March 13. Matthias, her father, was a farmer, and her mother, Mary Schmitt Unterburger, a sister of Sister Marka Schmitt, SSND, was a homemaker. In 1932, Mary began first grade at Holy Cross School, about a mile from their farm. She received her First Holy Communion in May 1934, and was the only girl in her class. The family moved to another farm in October 1934. Sister Padua wrote, "We now had a school right on the farm where we lived, but our parents decided we would walk past that school and continue going to Holy Cross School. We trudged two miles to school each day." She graduated from Holy Cross in 1942 but did not begin high school that fall. "I wasn't successful in convincing Dad until a year later that high school was for girls." The family moved to another farm closer to Kimball about that same time, and the Unterburger children were able to ride the bus to school. Sister Padua commented, "We liked that, but Kimball High School could never give us all we wanted. We missed the Benedictine Sisters." In a vocation publication, Sister Padua told her story: "I had Benedictine teachers through eighth grade. From the time I was small, I let my family know that I wanted to be a sister. I went to public high school in Kimball. In my junior year, my aunt, Sister Marka Schmitt, wrote to tell me that if I was still interested in becoming a sister, I should write to Mother Annunciata at Good Counsel. I was madder than a hatter at my aunt for what, I thought, was sticking her nose in my business! But, I wrote Mother Annunciata anyway! The day I stepped foot in the Aspiranture I knew I was in the right place." Mary spent her senior year at Good Counsel Academy and graduated on June 8, 1947. She entered the candidature one week later and wrote about that time, "I was terribly disillusioned when I found out that faults did not disappear on the first day that a long black dress was worn." She attended college classes during her first year in the candidature and spent her second year practice teaching at Immaculate Conception School, Gilbertville, Iowa, where she had ten second graders and thirty-one third graders. She remembered that year: "I can still see their eyes grow in size as I explained things. The children asked many questions while I learned to approach my subject in a logical way." Mary returned to Good Counsel in June, 1949 to prepare for reception into the novitiate. She was given the name Sister Mary Padua, with St. Anthony of Padua as her patron. She professed first vows in July 1950. Sister Padua's first teaching position was grades two and three at St. Felix, Wabasha. As she was preparing to start her second year there in 1951, she was transferred to St. Francis de Sales, St. Paul. One year later, she was again assigned to St. Felix where she stayed until 1963. From 1963 until 1969, she taught primary grades at St. Mary, New England, North Dakota. After spending the 1969-70 school year at St. Francis de Sales, Sister Padua moved to St. Isidore School, Litomysl, to teach grades one and two. She wrote, "Since the children came from the Owatonna and Blooming Prairie School Districts, I suggested starting a kindergarten. Permission was given by the pastor, and I continued to teach kindergarten with the first and second grades." In 1982, after twelve years in Litomysl, Sister Padua continued her kindergarten teaching ministry at Crucifixion School, La Crescent, until 1984. Sister Padua then returned to St. Mary, New England, as teacher and elementary librarian until the school closed in 1997. Her final year of teaching, 1997-98, was at St. Bernard, Cologne. During her teaching years, Sister Padua earned a bachelor's degree in education from Mount Mary College in 1962 and certification in library from Valley City (ND) University in 1987. Sister Padua came to Good Counsel in 1998 and provided community service in a variety of ways. She helped with sacristy work and distributed the mail. She also used her library certification as the Good Counsel librarian. She developed her own version of a bookmobile, preparing a cart of books which she would take to sisters in health care. She typified the essence of a librarian, reading whenever she had a free moment. Even as she waited for sisters to come to her bookmobile - or as she waited for the elevator - she could be seen reading a book. Sister Padua was also known for her knitting prowess. If she was not reading, she was knitting. She specialized in sweaters for infants and young children, displaying and selling many at Good Counsel's annual Craft Fair and in the Good Counsel Gift Shop. When she died, there was an unfinished sweater at her bedside. While often seen with a book or knitting needles, her prayer book and rosary were also constant companions. She also enjoyed a good game of cards. Sister Padua shared that her favorite prayer was "Soul of Christ." The conclusion of that prayer reads: "In the hour of my death call me/ And bid me come unto Thee/ That with thy Saints I may praise Thee/Forever and ever." At the time of her reception she wrote that it seemed like a miracle that God had chosen her. She has now been called by God to abide in love eternally with all the saints. May she be reading, knitting and praising God to her heart's content! Sister Mary Kay Ash, SSND