Back in May 2006, S. Joanne Fawls was doing some reminiscing. She decided to share her thoughts with the archives in order to contribute to our group story. As we look forward to our interprovincial chapter of mats next summer, I thought it would be appropriate to use her words and revisit the experience of an earlier time.
S. Joanne Fawls,
born Dorothy, November 15, 1919.
Entered the Sisters of St. Francis at Stella Niagara, September 7, 1937.
Received on August 16, 1938.
Professed on August 17, 1939.
Died at Mt. St. Mary Hospital, Lewiston, NY, January 9, 2010
In Her Own Words:
Recollections of division of our coast to coast province into 3 provinces, namely Holy Name Province, Sacred Heart Province, and St. Francis Province.
1. At first, as a novice, I found the idea quite exciting. Everyone at Stella was involved in the personal decision to move or stay where she was. Looking back on the situation it must have been heartbreaking for many of the professed sisters to make such a choice. I probably prayed a little, thought a little, and rather easily chose to join the “San Francisco” province, because it seemed a great opportunity. The joy was short-lived, for Mother Rose Bennett quickly informed the novices that we had no choice. The novices would go or stay at the geographical location from which she had entered. So, that was that.
2. Next, my mind turned to the professed sisters who had taught me at Sacred Heart Academy. Would Sr. Georgia Dunn leave us, or Sr. Geraldine Lauby, or would others go? What about our postulant and novice mistress, Mother Immaculata? Would even she choose to leave us? It began to be a serious or sobering time.
3. Then, the realization that the novices and postulants from the mid-west and far-west (terms new to our way of thinking) would also leave us. That seemed the deepest blow of all.
From the time I had entered the convent, Sept. 7, 1937, the women I had met soon became my very good friends. My fear of coming “to join the convent” was strong. My certainty of wearing black stockings, going to bed early, being with straight-laced young strangers, etc. was quickly changed. The novices of 1937 were a group of exuberant, creative, kind, and welcoming ones. How would it be without them?
All in the novitiate soon came face-to-face with the reality. Our lives would be different. We were losing, as we said, the best of us. The westerners seemed to have an outlook on life that was different from we easterners. We were sometimes dubbed “sophisticated,” and the westerners a simple people in the best sense of the word. They were free in their thinking, clear in their outlook on life, accepting of others. They seemed to be as expansive as their geography. A few of the sisters who left were Sr. Bartholomew (Catherine) Leahey, Sr. Muriel Witte, Sr. Corine Habersetzer, Sr. Loretta Miller.
Many left before Christmas in 1938. It was a sad day at Stella Niagara, and one that has been long remembered.
A joyful note to the above (is) that after a lapse of 50 years, some were re-united for a visit at Stella or in the west.