Mother of God Monastery
110  28th Ave. SE ~  Watertown,  SD  57201
Phone: 605-882-6600  Fax: 605-882-6658
monastery@dailypost.com

COMMUNITY

SISTER MARMION MAIERS

Living in Ipswich, SD, I had good Catholic parents who lived their faith and instilled it into their 8 children.

In grades two to eight, I attended  Catholic School.  The Benedictines from Sacred Heart Convent, Yankton, SD were my teachers.  When I was in the eighth grade, Sister Rose Marie Bierschbach asked me if I had thought of being a Sister.  That was the invitation I needed, and she helped me enter Sacred Heart Convent when I graduated from the eighth grade at the age of 13.

I completed high school in three years and a summer at Mount Marty High School.  At age 16, I was sent to Immaculate Conception Indian Mission, Stephan, SD to teach 41 first and second graders.

In the summer of my 17th year, I entered the novitiate.  After several months, I wondered whether I had made the right choice, not having experienced much of the broader world.  So I left the convent to find out.

Working in the following places satisfied my curiosity;

• Diet Kitchen in St. Luke's Hospital in Aberdeen, SD

• the candle factory in Ipswich, SD

• Columbia Air Craft Company, Portland, OR

• being "Rosie the Rivet Bucker" at Boeing in Seattle

All during my three years I spent "in the world", I felt the Hound of Heaven urging me to return to the convent.  When I returned at age 20, I really felt that I came home.

Living in the community: praying, working, playing and sharing with other Benedictine Sisters as family is something I greatly appreciate.

Educating on all different levels has been my profession throughout the 59 years I have been a Sister.  My present ministry is Director of Adult Faith Formation in Sacred Heart Parish, Texarkana, TX.  I live with two fellow Sisters; Sr. Mona Kirwan and Sr. Marietta Miller who are chaplains at Christus St. Michael's Hospital, and our feline brother, Bene.

There are two special recognitions that I cherish.  I was invited by my religious superiors to represent our community in a portrait series entitled "Wisdom of Benedictine Elders" by Mark McGinnis.  The portraits and interviews were eventually incorporated into a book recently  published.

In February 2005, I was informed by the U.S. Department of the Interior that my "Rosie Story" and the photo of the 5000th B-17 airplane on which my sister and I were included in the crowd is ID# P-702 at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park Museum in Richmond, CA.