Sister Helen Suzanne (Seraphica) Marx, 95, died at 10:40 a.m. Friday, March 21, 2003, at Mother of God Monastery.

Helen was born May 31, 1907, one of eleven children of Anton and Elizabeth (Schloesser) Marx in Kranzburg, South Dakota. She entered Sacred Heart Convent in Yankton in 1923 and graduated from Mount Marty Academy.

Sister Helen Suzanne began her educational career teaching at Hoven, followed by several years in the Dakotas and Nebraska. She earned her Master's Degree in history and her certification in administration from USD, Vermillion. For her master's dissertation, she wrote the life of Thomas O'Gorman, second Bishop of the Sioux Falls Diocese, 1896-1921. She spent the summer of 1967, at Oregon College taking courses in Economics. Sister Helen Suzanne was accepted at the National Institute in Hampton, Virginia, where she earned her Master's in Social Science. Her course work dealt with education in depressed areas, which prepared her for teaching at Rust College, Holly Springs, MS, Elizabeth State University, and Fayetteville State University, both in North Carolina. She then spent three years teaching Mexican-American children at Somerton, Arizona. In 1973, she returned to South Dakota.

In January, 1975, Sister was asked to become the monastery's historian. She compiled the history of the first twenty-five years of Mother of God Monastery. During the following years she researched the schools and missions in which the Sisters ministered. As a native of Kranzburg, Sister worked on the Holy Rosary Church Centennial book. The Watertown Centennial Committee hired Sister Helen Suzanne to compile the City Council minutes as a basis for planning their centennial celebration. (A copy is in the time capsule located on the Court House Grounds).

Sister Helen Suzanne had a broad range of interests and activities, which she continued to pursue up to the last weeks of her life. She followed politics and current events intently. Her hobbies included stamp collecting, quilt making, writing poetry, and watercolor and oil paintings.

Sister is survived by her nieces and nephews, her many friends, and her Sisters of Mother of God Monastery.