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Dec 07 LBW
Sister Joanne
Williams, OSB, is the younger of two children and grew up just a
mile down the street from Sacred Heart Monastery in Lisle. She
entered the community at the age of fifteen after her sophomore
year at Sacred Heart Academy. She was drawn to a life in
community when, as a young child, she attended CCD classes
taught by the Benedictine Sisters at St. Joan of Arc Parish.
She remembers being drawn to the Sisters by their joy in the
Lord’s service.
Much of Sister
Joanne’s life in community has been spent teaching in elementary
school. Over a twenty-four year career, she taught in Ohio,
Texas and Chicago. In her last sixteen years in the profession,
she was principal at Our Lady of Lourdes in Chicago. She found
teaching to be a very rewarding ministry.
While busy
teaching, Sister Joanne also continued her studies and received
a B.S. in Education from Loyola University. She was
particularly interested in art classes and made the decision to
go into Art Education. She attended the Illinois Institute of
Technology – The Institute of Design and received a M.S. in
Design Education. Course work involved design principals and
photography. She was able to apply this course of study when
she taught in an after-school program called “Young
Rembrandts”. This program was designed to teach all ages,
pre-school to high school, how to draw.
In 1993, the
school where Sister Joanne was principal closed and she was
offered an assistant administrative position at Queen of Peace
Center, the former Benedale Center. Sister has been involved
with the assisted living facility ever since, in many
capacities. Her duties as Hospitality Director include
responding to inquiries regarding assisted living, guiding tours
of Benedale Center, maintaining the facility’s waiting list and
making arrangements for the arrival of new residents. The
variety of work is something Sister Joanne very much enjoys.
She is also to be found making good use of her training as she
leads arts and crafts activities for the residents.
Sister Joanne
has recently taken on the role of Alumnae Director for the
Benedictine Sisters. In this role, she is responsible for
staying in touch with all of Sacred Heart Academy’s alums,
coordinating the annual reunion and gathering materials for the
alums’ newsletter, The Echo.
Sister Joanne
comments that now that the Monastery renovation is completed, “I
pray that Sacred Heart Monastery would grow with vibrant women
who wish to serve God and the church. I also hope that Villa
St. Benedict will always be a thriving senior Catholic community”.
Sister Joanne encourages LBW readers to “Live your lives to
the fullest, be happy and praise God daily”!
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