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- We, the FRANCISCAN SISTERS, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
of Wheaton, Illinois,
recommend to your prayers
Sister Jane (M. Rudolph) Hermus
of St. Anthony
who departed this life to enter into LIFE ETERNAL on February 11, 2014
Sr. Jane, baptized Petronella, was born April 1, 1927, in Little Chute, Wisconsin, daughter of Johanna (Vander Sanden) and Rudolph Hermus. Petronella was one of six children in the Hermus family. She attended St. John Elementary and High School in Little Chute as did her siblings.
After graduating from high school she worked for her aunt, Sr. M. Bernita Hermus, at St. Marys Hospital in Racine. She herself wrote of that time: …help was very scarce. After putting in a full days work and visiting hours were over, the Sisters worked together at scrubbing and waxing the floors. In spite of long days and hard work, the Sisters could be heard laughing and enjoying themselves at recreation in the evening,.. When Sr. M. Bernita was hospitalized, Sr. M. Louise Boehmer briefly filled in and took Petronella under her wing. I feel that Sister Louises loving concern together with the joy I saw among the Sisters both greatly influenced my decision to join the religious life.
In 1946, at age 19, Petronella entered the novitiate of the Franciscan Sisters in St. Louis, and completed her novitiate years in their new location in Wheaton, Illinois. After professing temporary vows in May of 1949, now known as Sr. M. Rudolph, she went back to St. Louis where she attended Fontbonne College and earned a Bachelors degree in Dietetics and Science. At the completion of her dietetics studies, she was missioned to St. Marys Hospital in Racine where she served as Dietitian and Director of the Dietary Department from 1953 to 1961. She fulfilled this same role from 1961 to 1964 at St. Anthonys Hospital in St. Louis, and from 1964 to 1968 again at St. Marys Hospital in Racine. In 1968 she moved to St. Francis Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa, serving in the same capacity until her resignation there in 1995. In 1987 she assumed the additional role of Senior Nutritionist, and carried this for two years beyond her resignation as dietitian in 1995. In Racine and in Waterloo she served the Sisters as local directress.
In 1997, Sr. Jane returned to the Motherhouse in Wheaton where she was local directress of the Sisters for one year. After that she began her well-earned retirement, remaining in the Motherhouse community until February 2010 when she was transferred to Franciscan Woods in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Sr. Jane offered her talents in other roles also, such as a member of the Covenant Foundation Board, Community Finance Team, Covenant Wages Committee, and 125th (Congregation) Anniversary Committee. Among her fond memories are several overseas trips. In 1975 she accompanied Sr. M. Norene Staeck who was attending a General Finance Commission meeting at the generalate in Rome. 1992 found her a member of the Pace e Bene Pilgrimage in Italy and provided her an occasion to visit the European provinces of our Sisters in Holland, Germany and France. In 1998 she again had the joy of visiting the Netherlands, homeland of earlier generations of her family. Among her leisure activities Sr. Jane has listed bowling, playing cards, yard work and bingo.
Sr. Jane will be missed as a prayerful, loving and dedicated member of our Franciscan congregation.
May God grant her great joy forever among our Sisters in heaven.
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