Sister Maureen Lathers
1934-2008

Due to illness from 1991 until her death, Sister Maureen Lathers spent her last years in several nursing homes. She died at Marilyn Anderson Hospice Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Her wake was held at the Joyce-Ryan Funeral Home in Madison on December 29, and burial was from St. Maria Goretti Church in Madison on December 30. Monsignor Michael Burke and Father Jay Poster, Sister Maureen’s cousin, concelebrated the funeral liturgy. She was buried in Madison’s Resurrection Cemetery. Sister Patricia Dulka, Prioress of Dominican Midwest Mission Chapter, and several other sisters attended the wake and funeral.

Sister Maureen was born in Madison on December 8, 1934, baptized Marilyn Elizabeth, and raised in Madison. She was the daughter of Gladys (Walsh) and William C. Lathers. The family numbered five children: Ellie, Jack who died in 1984 due to cancer of the esophagus, Michael, Marilyn, and Sally.

Marilyn began her education at Blessed Sacrament School, then transferred to Edgewood Elementary School that was operated by the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. According to a history compiled by Badger Prairie Health Care Center in Verona, Wisconsin, where she spent her last years, she suffered from an undiagnosed congenital heart defect and was a sickly child. During fifth grade, she was confined to bed for eighteen months and was held back a year in school.

In 1953 she graduated with honors from Edgewood High School, also with the Sinsinawa Dominicans. Her parents did much to support the school. In the obituary put out by Joyce-Ryan Funeral Homes, we read:

Her father, a road contractor at the time, graded and prepared Edgewood grounds for the first football field, as well as purchased the first set of Edgewood High football uniforms. Her mother made chicken salad for 400 luncheon guests at the first fundraising EdgeFest in the early 1970s. In 1992 Sister Maureen received Edgewood’s Dominican Award for Service to Humanity, which she treasured as recognition of her family.

Edgewood High School has also established a Jack F. Lathers Scholarship

After attending Barry College in Miami, Florida, for a time, Marilyn entered the postulate at Adrian on June 25, 1955. She was twenty years of age. She received the habit and her religious name on December 27, 1955, and professed her first vows on December 28, 1956.

Almost immediately she was sent back to Florida, where she taught second grade at St. Rose of Lima in Miami Shores for a semester. That assignment, however, was the only time she spent outside the Midwest.

Her transfer to Visitation, Detroit, in 1957 began ten years of ministry in Michigan and her high school ministry. At Visitation she taught religion, biology, bookkeeping, and art until 1962. She had been studying at Siena Heights College (now University) during the summers, and in July 1959 received a bachelor’s degree with a major in English and minor in mixed science. She next taught science and art for three years at St. Alphonsus in Dearborn and art, drafting, and biology for two years at St. John in Ypsilanti.

In 1967 she was assigned to Hoban Dominican High School in Cleveland, Ohio, as a teacher of art, biology, and English.

A year later she returned to Michigan for another six years to teach biology and art for a year each at Port Huron Catholic High School in Port Huron, Dominican High School in Detroit, and St. Alphonsus in Dearborn. Next she lived at St. Alphonsus and was a full-time student at Wayne State University for two years. She received a certificate in occupational therapy from the University in 1972.

She spent another year at St. Alphonsus, then in 1974 began three years as an occupational therapist at Therapy Associates in Mequon, Wisconsin.

Again she became a full-time student, this time at Wisconsin State University in Whitewater. In 1978 the University conferred a master’s degree in special education upon her. Two years as principal and special education teacher at the Cooperative Education School Agency, #14, in Fenimore, Wisconsin, followed.

In 1980 she began eleven years of service in Dubuque, Iowa, as an occupational therapist: four years at the Keystone Area Educational Agency and seven years at Catholic Charities. An article in Dubuque’s Telegraph Herald for June 28, 1988, publicized her ministry. The article featured a large picture of her, and read in part:

Sister operates an independent living program for the tri-state area designed to assist elderly and disabled people in achieving independence in their homes. The program has been in existence for four years through the Dubuque office of Catholic Charities and serves about ninety homebound in the tri-state area.

Sister shows them new methods or devices that can help them in ordinary daily activities. She counsels them in finding out what type of services they are eligible for, such as Medicare, fuel assistance, and other local programs.

Her position is funded by United Way. She is the only person in the area who offers such help and said that there is need for more. She offers her care to all denominations. She said that she does not solicit clients but gains referrals from county nurses, priests, and families who have a disabled or elderly person related to them.

During her time in Dubuque, she spent the weekends in Madison at her parents’ home, helping to care for her father who was ill with Parkinson’s Disease. He died in 1992.

In 1991 Sister Maureen herself became ill. She was home alone and had a stroke, but was not discovered until her mother called Catholic Charities to report that Sister Maureen had not arrived in Madison as expected. She was treated at Mercy Health Care Center in Dubuque, then transferred for a month to Marianjoy Center in Wheaton, Illinois, for recuperation. She spent several weeks with her sister Ellie in her Florida condo and some time in Madison, after which she went to Adrian and spent three months at Maria Health Care Center.

In 1993 she was transferred to Villa St. John Vianney Hospital in Downington, Pennsylvania, where she stayed for six months. During the time that she was there, she fell and broke her hip. A stay at Indian Trails Nursing Home in Carey, Ohio, was next, and to Highland Transitional Care in Madison. In March 1995 she was admitted to Badger Prairie Health Care Center, a Catholic community. Her mother’s death that year added sorrow to her illness.

Sister Maureen was close to her family, and her two sisters visited her frequently. Other family members and friends in the area also visited and wrote to her. She was a member of the Chicago Mission Chapter, and received the monthly bulletin from Adrian, keeping her updated on what was happening in the Congregation. Sister Maureen’s Chapter Prioress at that time was Sister Joella Miller, who also visited her several times.

Sister Maureen’s artistic talent was recognized when her watercolor painting entitled “Lily Pond” was one of two paintings accepted by the AAHSA (American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging) for permanent display in the association’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C. This honor was publicized in the Wisconsin State Journal of February 11, 2001. The other painting accepted was by another resident of Badger Prairie Health Care Center, Donna Morstad.

The article in the paper showed pictures of the two paintings. It read in part:

Morstad and Lathers both took up painting after coming to BPHCC, an institution that benefits from a unique relationship with the artists of Westwing Studios. . . . Both have enjoyed weekly lessons for the past several years, and it was their enthusiasm—as well as their ability—that prompted BPHCC staff and their Westwing teachers to enter their work in the national contest.

After the afternoon class, Lathers leads a tour of her ward, where several other watercolors bear the precise, cursive signature, “Sister Maureen Lathers.” Her pride at having her work framed and displayed is evident. Last year, she notes, she had a solo exhibit in the dining room. “I didn’t think I’d be chosen, but I figured, well, it’s just something that I’ll never hear from,” says Lathers. “But then I got the letter that said I was one of 200 from 700.”

Sister Maureen’s death on December 24, 2008, the day before Christmas, at the age of seventy-four ended her years of disability and suffering. She is now with the God she loved and served, free of the illnesses that incapacitated her. Christ has given her the privilege of celebrating His birthday with Him in eternity.