At great sacrifice to the family, Sister Alma and her two older sisters were sent to Sacred Heart Academy and it was there that the three of them, Sisters Immaculate, Annunciata and Alma found their vocation.  Sister Alma also had a cousin, Sister Marie Bartek and has a niece, Sister Mary Bratrsovsky who are Benedictines and have followed in the family’s tradition.

Sister Alma graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in 1935 and subsequently received a degree in Mathematics from DePaul University.  She taught both algebra and geometry for about fifteen years at both Sacred Heart and Benet Academies.  Following her years of teaching, Sister Alma was Director of Financial Aid at Illinois Benedictine College (now BU) for ten years and retired from that ministry in the 1960’s.  Not quite ready for full retirement, Sister went on to work as a typist at Waste Management in Oakbrook for three more years.

Beyond her ministries outside of the monastery, Sister Alma has served the community in a variety of roles: Secretary to the Prioress, Treasurer and Subprioress.  Additionally, Sister has been the community’s archivist.

 After a very full working life, Sister Alma now enjoys her retirement at the monastery.  She stays busy with a variety of tasks and has developed her already significant typing skills into very helpful computer skills.  She also helps with the Sisters’ many large mailings each year.  Sister Alma especially loves to stay in touch with relatives, friends and former students via email.  Sister Alma also loves to tat, an increasingly rare handwork art form, and makes lovely doilies and handkerchief edgings.  Her beautiful crocheted baby blankets are treasured gifts.

 About the future here at Sacred Heart Monastery, Sister Alma observes, “When, God willing, I will live to see my community in its new monastery, I will help create community within its new surroundings and I will continue to pray for those who have ministries outside the monastery.  I will pray that the members of our community will, by their example, spread peace and harmony to our surrounding community and attract new members to our community.”

 “I pray that God bless all the readers of the LBW, that they experience God’s love, joy, peace and happiness and that this newsletter will help spread the Word of God.
 

Sister Charlotte Vesely was born in Cicero, Illinois.  Both her mother and her father were taught by Sister Genevieve, the Benedictine Sisters’ second Prioress, at St. Vitus School in Chicago.  Charlotte had one brother, Charles.  Sister Charlotte recalls that her family was very close to the Benedictines and would visit the monastery.  Her family enrolled her at Sacred Heart Academy for her high school years where her interest in religious life was noticed by Sister Scholastica.  Charlotte was placed in an “aspirants group” and her high school classes were accelerated so that she graduated one year early, in June of 1935.  She entered the community in August of that same year.  She took her final vows in 1937. 

 Sister Charlotte taught English, Voice and Music at Sacred Heart Academy.  She was also involved with the Minim Department, where she taught SHA’s elementary age students in the ‘30’s and ‘40’s.  In 1947, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Mt. St. Scholastica in Atkinson, Kansas and she earned a master’s in Education from DePaul University in 1968.

 Sister Charlotte’s teaching career took her to Ft. Worth, Texas  where she opened up St. George School along with Sister Raphael.  She was the principal of St. Mary of Celle in Berwyn, Illinois, and taught English at Benet Academy for five years.   In 1973, she was elected Prioress and during her twelve years in that position, the community renovated the Academy to be used as the monastery and began to study the use of the space that currently serves as Villa St. Benedict’s assisted living community.   Following her years as Prioress, Sister Charlotte worked in Benet Academy’s Alumni Office and spent two years on the staff of Villa St. Benedict. 

In community, Sister Charlotte has served as Community School Supervisor where she visited all of the schools operated by the Benedictines.  She has served on the Monastic Council, the Board of Directors at Benet and as moderator for the SHA alumnae.  In 1978, she was appointed to the Diocese of Joliet Council of Administration where she would meet with the Bishop to discuss financial matters in the diocese.

 Currently, Sister Charlotte spends many hours in contact with SHA’s alumnae and assisting Sister Joanne Williams as she takes over that liaison role.  She helps with many of the Sisters’ mailings and is providing some tutoring support to the two Sisters from Tanzania who are living at the monastery and going to school.

 Sister Charlotte looks forward to smaller monastery after the renovation is complete.  She loves her time and interaction with the residents of Villa St. Benedict.  As a Benedictine, she feels that the Sisters’ aim is to bring people closer to God through the Benedictines’ prayer life and their association with others as they live out the Benedictine motto, ora et labora, -- work and pray.
 

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”!