Sister Ellen L. Hirzel
1915-2008
On her funeral plan, Sister Ellen Hirzel wrote, “Please don’t talk about me. Just pray for me.” At the wake Sister Joan Sustersic, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, said that she wanted to honor Sister Ellen’s wishes, but felt that the sisters needed to hear her unique story. So the assembly prayed for Sister Ellen, but also heard the story of her life and some testimonials from sisters who had known and loved her. Sister Joan described Sister Ellen as an unpretentious, prayerful Dominican woman, one who labored in God’s vineyard, seeking no recognition or honors.
In her autobiography, Sister Ellen summarized her religious life: “There were many hard times, but those were times of growth. I didn’t see the sense of it then, but I do now. It was a great life, and I wouldn’t want any other.”
Sister Ellen did not come into the world alone, but with a twin sister who was baptized Isabelle. In her autobiography she wrote:
I’m not sure whether I’m Isabelle or Ellen because I have a picture of my mother holding us. On the back of the picture she wrote, “I don’t know which is which.” My father couldn’t tell us apart, so he called us “Twin.”
The twins were born in Syracuse, New York, on May 3, 1915, the daughters of Albert and Nellie (Paulson) Hirzel. Both parents were Midwest natives. Albert Hirzel, a farmer, was from Fowler, Indiana; and Nellie Paulson, a teacher, was from Antwerp, Ohio. In her autobiography Sister Ellen did not tell us how or where they met. She did reveal, however, that her mother became a Catholic at the time of her marriage.
In time Albert and Nellie Hirzel became the parents of six children, five girls and a boy. They moved back to Antwerp, Ohio, where the twins attended St. Mary School with Franciscan Sisters, made their First Communion, and were confirmed. Their next move was to Sidell, Illinois, where Albert Hirzel managed a department store, and the children attended a public school. Sister Ellen wrote, “Since there was no Catholic church, we went ten miles for Mass every Sunday.” When they arrived home from Mass, the father instructed his children in their Faith.
When he decided that Sidell was not a good place to raise a family, he moved them to New Haven, Indiana, where the children attended St. John School. The twins attended New Haven High School. Sister Ellen wrote:
These were Depression days, and money was scarce. It must have been hard for my parents to provide for so many children. However, we lived through it, and were probably better for it.
When she graduated from high school in June 1933, Ellen found a job working in a Paulding, Ohio, variety store. There she met Jane Burke, who was interested in the Adrian Dominican Sisters, and considering entrance into that Congregation. Ellen drove Jane to Adrian, and saw Dominicans for the first time. Jane (the future Sister Mary Cathal) spoke of her determination to become an Adrian Dominican, and suggested that Ellen also enter. Ellen, however, had other ideas.
I declined, for I wanted to see if I could support myself. My wages were low, but I found out that I could. Thursday evenings there was a “penny dance,” and I usually went after work. It was at the dance that the thought came to me—what was I doing, going round and round, and where was it getting me? That was it. I decided then and there that I was going to the convent.
Her parents were delighted with her decision. On June 24, 1938, a little more than a month after her twenty-third birthday, they drove her to Adrian. About her postulate and novitiate she wrote:
I had no idea concerning what I would do in the convent. I just knew that was it, and I was ready to face whatever came. As an adult, I thought that many things we were asked to do were stupid, but since I wanted to live the life to the full, I did it.
With her group, she received the habit and her religious name, Sister Mary Baptista, on January 3, 1939, and professed her first vows on January 4, 1940. Immediately she was sent to St. Gabriel School in Detroit as a fourth grade teacher for the second semester of that school year. She wrote, “To me, it was a nightmare!” For the next four years she taught second and fourth grades at Ascension in Harvey, Illinois, then returned to Detroit for two years: a year at Our Lady of Sorrows teaching third grade and a year at St. Augustine with fourth grade.
In 1946 she was sent to the western part of the country, where she taught primary and middle grade students for a year at St. Dominic in Roy, New Mexico. One of the sisters remembered that they had a cow, and that Sister Ellen milked it so that the sisters could have milk in the mornings. Another remembered the generosity of Sister Ellen’s parents in getting the sisters a modern stove to replace the coal stove. At the wake, Sister Anne Marie Snyder shared:
In the early 1950s, Sister Ellen and I spent three summers in Quemado, New Mexico. We taught catechism to children during the day, and in the evening we rang the church bell and said prayers and sang hymns with the people. The church was built by the Extension Society, and was adjacent to the parish cemetery. We taught in the small church or outdoors.
One day, as we were with our students at two different sites, they sitting on the grave stones or grass and we on buckets, a van pulled up. The sign “Extension Society” was evident. Then two men with cameras got out. They were going to the areas where these churches were built to take pictures, and were overjoyed to see some action taking place. They took some pictures and they said, “This is the best day we’ve had. We’ve been to lots of churches, but yours is the only one that has life. We’re happy to see you sisters. Keep teaching and going on with your work.” So that’s what we did. Can you imagine our parents in Ohio seeing the front cover of Our Sunday Visitor—a picture of us with the caption, “Teaching the Living among the Dead.”
Sister Anne Marie went on to tell about the shepherds who brought their flocks of sheep to the area. The sisters enjoyed watching what happened. Each flock was counted, and they saw a black sheep at the end. “There was always a black sheep at the end of each flock.”
Sister Ellen spent the next three years in catechetical work at St. Joseph in Winslow, Arizona. She wrote that this was another trial. She disliked the West at first, but learned to love that area of the country.
She returned to Detroit to teach middle grade students for six years: at St. Agatha for five years and at Holy Name for a year. In 1956 she was assigned to teach and do catechetical work at St. John in Albion, Michigan.
She returned to the West for another three years: a year at St. Anthony in Casa Grande, Arizona, with fourth graders, and two years at St. Ann in Tucumcari, New Mexico, with junior high. In 1963 she was brought back to the Midwest to teach at St. Peter in Harper Woods, Michigan, for two years. She then spent four years in Ohio: three years at St. Pius X in Toledo and a year at St. Mary in Swanton.
In 1969 she was again sent to the West, where she taught for a year at St. Joseph in Winslow, Arizona (for the second time), and six years at Our Lady of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the wake Sister Mary Kathleen O’Neill shared a memory:
Thirty-five years ago I met Sister Ellen. I had never seen her before, but we spent three or four years together. Sometimes a person comes into your life to help you through an unexpected situation. That was Sister Ellen for me.
I was missioned to the West, which was all new to me. The other two women with whom I worked wanted to visit Las Vegas. Sister Ellen was missioned there. I had never been to Las Vegas. The sisters wanted to go to the Strip. I didn’t know what that was, but I soon found out. We went to the Strip, and I had never seen a place like that—it sparkled with lights and so much activity. It was beyond me at the time. But I didn’t like what was going on there—the gambling, etc. In Illinois, where I was from, there was no gambling. You got arrested for gambling.
Sister Ellen was there, too, and she could tell from my face that I didn’t like it. She took my hand and said, “I don’t like it either, but we don’t have to gamble or go to the shows. When the sisters are ready to go home, we’ll be there.” I was so grateful to her. Whenever I think of that trip to the Strip, I just remember her taking my hand and saying, “It will be OK!”
After a year at Loretto in Douglas, Arizona, Sister Ellen was assigned to St. Patrick in Miami Beach, Florida, where she spent two years. About this mission she wrote, “We lived a simple life, and it was life lived the way I thought religious life should be.” In 1979 she taught at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Oceanside, California, for a year, then returned to Arizona to care for the library at Santa Cruz School in Tucson.
After spending two years as receptionist at Weber Center in Adrian, she went back to the West and spent eight years as a volunteer at St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, Nevada. During this time, in 1998, her twin sister died. Brought back to Adrian, Sister Ellen ministered in the campus drapery department for ten years. In 2002, the state of her health made it necessary for her to move into the Maria Building of the Dominican Life Center. At the wake, Sister Lois Rochon, who was her Companion on the Journey, shared memories.
Mary Collins told me that she and Sister Ellen learned line dancing, and Sister Ellen asked Mary how she was doing. Mary thought she was doing well, and was surprised when she found out that Sister Ellen was more than eighty years old.
When I met her, she was eighty-seven, and I found that she was very practical, down-to-earth, capable of taking care of herself, very disciplined. She had what she needed, and no more. She really lived the vow of poverty.
I visited her on a regular basis. She was sick more often than I was, but when I was sick she would visit me. When she was on second floor and I was sick, she often did my wash. It would come back neatly put together—everything just right. I thanked her for visiting me, and she said, “I’m glad to do it. You know I’m a twin, and twins don’t like to be alone.”
Sister Lois spoke about the trouble Sister Ellen was having with her eyes. She couldn’t read print, and there was nothing that could be done to help her. So Sister Lois obtained some picture books for her, but she was reluctant to look at them. “That was the end of the books, and the TV, too.” Gradually she was able to do less and less.
She came to accept what had happened to her, and she would go out and sit by the elevator. She would sit there and smile at the people as they got off the elevator. That became like a ministry to her.
Sister Peggy Coyne sent a fax to the wake, describing her experience with Sister Ellen.
She was one of the nightly hand-and-foot card players when Sister Heather [Stiverson] and I were living on second floor Regina. She also delighted in playing Aggravation. One of her favorite sayings was “son of a biscuit” each time she was sent back to home with her marbles. She also made wonderful bread and taught me how to knead dough. She was very warm and supportive of me and Sister Heather our first year at Regina. Her hugs were so powerful. In these later days when I would visit Sister Ellen, she might not have had the words to speak, but she had eyes that spoke volumes. She will truly be missed.
God took Sister Ellen to eternity on October 14, 2008, at the age of ninety-three.
Sister Ellen’s wake-remembrance service was held in St. Catherine Chapel on October 16. Sister Joan Sustersic, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, extended sympathy to those who had gathered to honor her, and summarized her life and ministry. She added:
Sister Ellen was ever the energizer bunny—she just kept going and going and going. When she was able to get around on her own, she didn’t WALK—she almost RAN to get to places. She continued to help out in the sewing room at Maria. Then she suffered a broken hip. That curtailed her somewhat… Several years ago she suffered a stroke. She recovered—not as much as she would have liked… She needed to use a walker, then eventually a wheelchair.
Her funeral liturgy took place on October 17, and she was laid to rest in the Congregational cemetery. Sister Lois spoke of the joy she feels at Sister Ellen’s reunion with her twin and other loved ones, and her freedom from pain and disability. But, as several sisters remarked, she will be missed by those left behind.