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Rocking Chairs for Loan |
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Although there are a few rocking chairs around Wright Hall, most of them have to rock themselves: nobody's in them! The residents at this retirement center, all former teachers, have numerous other activities, many of which include volunteering energy, knowledge and time to the Chicago community around them. For example, when she retired as a teacher at St. Gertrude's School, BVM Therese Waughon (John Francine) immediately began work as a hospital volunteer. First at Columbus Hospital in the Intensive Care Unit, then after Columbus closed, at St. Joseph 's Hospital in the Critical Care Unit, Therese has worked as a receptionist one day each week. She answers the phone, directs traffic, assists visitors, and comforts families waiting anxiously for news. She acts as “go-fer” for the nurses, and assembles blank charts for the doctors. Further, she acts as “aide” for all the departments on the floor, helping wherever needed. “I like the smiles of the relatives,” says Therese, “or the ‘Thank you, Sister; you've saved us a lot of work' from the nurses.” That's enough, Therese thinks.
Another resident, Leana Kohnen, BVM, contributes services almost daily to the St. Mary's High School Alumnae office, whose members cover the Chicago area, and elsewhere. Although she is a graduate of The Immaculata High School and takes some heavy teasing on this account, she faithfully reports for duty nearly every day in the St. Mary's office, located on the basement floor of Wright Hall, Chicago . Leana, a soft-spoken person, does clerical work for the organization of 3500-plus members, and assists with the bookkeeping. It's her job to open the mail, extract donations, and make a three-fold record of them; the amount is noted in the “daily book,” in the “donation” book, and on the individual alumna's data card. Further, she helps in balancing the organization's books and bank account, and she prepares deposits for the bank. Does she like it? Indeed she does. She says she enjoys the relationships she's been able to develop there, and is “so pleased” to be able to make a contribution. And BVM Kathleen Doherty (Patrick Louis), Coordinator/Treasurer of the organization, says Leana is “wonderful.”
Still another resident, Edissa Szczepanski, BVM, contributes two mornings each week to St. Mary's Home, established as a retirement center for the elderly poor of Chicago by the Little Sisters of the Poor. Edissa goes in Monday and Thursday mornings and works in the laundry. She and the four regular workers perform the humdrum laundry routine. They remove items from the dryers and fold them carefully, mangle sheets and tablecloths, iron individual pieces of clothing—those not wash and wear—for the residents. Edissa then distributes the clothing to the individual containers to be returned to each resident. She speaks of “such nice people” as she meets there, and of her own inner satisfaction. Edissa's own father lived there until his death some years ago, and she feels her work is a small return for the lovely surroundings there and the care he received. “I feel they were very good to him,” Edissa says, and is happy to help provide that same good care for others. And the list goes on and on. Anybody need a rocking chair?
To Keep Human Life HUMAN Can a theologian find true happiness in a treasurer's office? YES!—IF the theologian is Mary Donahey, BVM (Thomas Daniel). Mary, with 38 years of teaching theology behind her, is still contributing to the welfare of her BVM sisters and, indeed, of the whole Wright Hall community, as she grapples with the tasks of being the treasurer and general finance trouble-shooter at this BVM retirement center in Chicago. She assumed this role in 2002 when the then-treasurer of 15 years, BVM Mary Healey (Michael Edmund), retired. The treasurer's job is sufficiently time-consuming for someone in semi-retirement. At the time Mary assumed this role, the congregation had revamped the job description for local treasurers, changing the demands on them. Mary has been spending 20-plus hours a week on this occupation. She says that the job is “an opportunity to live out some of the service implications” of the theology she studied and taught so long. She calls it “interesting, rewarding and ultimately challenging to discern and collaborate with what God and others are doing in one's world ‘to make and keep human life human'” (Karl Lehmann). Part of the job is handling the details of health insurance, dental insurance and drug insurance for the residents, and of coordinating efforts with the Treasurer's Office of the congregation in Dubuque . Another part of her role consists of seeing that bills for all goods and services for Wright Hall get checked and paid, that employees receive their checks, and that stipends are paid as approved by the Administrator. Mary grew up on a farm in western Iowa . At age 11, in 1949 before the era of the Salk vaccine, Mary got polio. She spent seven months in the hospital and was left with some paralyzed muscles. The following decades included a number of surgeries. Two of the surgeries, to correct scoliosis, required her to wear a body cast for ten months. Along the way she graduated with a math major from Creighton University , Omaha, before entering the BVM congregation and earning advanced degrees in theology. She taught at various locations in Chicago: Mundelein College for 28 years, ten years at Loyola University , and short periods elsewhere—McCormick Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), Catholic Theological Union, and the John Jay College for Criminal Justice in New York . Her calm demeanor is phenomenal. Mary manages to change the dross of insurance claims and language into the gold of understanding and patience. Her lively sense of humor also helps. She says that one of the more enjoyable parts of her role is interacting with her BVM sisters and with the staff, answering questions and explaining the insurance coverage to them. Much more challenging at times is the interaction with the billing departments of the various providers of goods and services to Wright Hall. This ranges from clarifying obscure points of insurance coverage to discussing invoices. Somehow Mary does all this with a friendly smile and an accommodating manner. As a former math major, Mary takes pleasure in the mathematical aspect of her job. She says, “…[I]t calls on a few of the skills honed…” by her math work at Creighton. Mary also enjoys the work for its location in the Wright Hall treasurer's office. She says, “It …brings back the joy some of us farm people experience in working where we live.” So BVMs living at Wright Hall gain—and appreciate—Mary's help with finances, and Mary herself finds contentment and satisfaction in helping to “keep human life human.” About the author: Mary Terese Rink, BVM (Lumina) is retired at Wright Hall, Chicago. Return
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