SISTER FRANCIS LOUISE BORGES
1909-2007

In the ninety-seven years of life that God allotted to her, Sister Frances Louise spent seventy-seven of them in the Adrian Dominican Congregation. “I am very happy that I am a member of the Adrian Dominicans. I have been challenged, educated, and helped in my spiritual development. I am proud and happy to be a Dominican.” This is the final statement in her autobiography.

Sister Frances Louise was the daughter of Louis and Frances (Meyer) Borges. She was born on October 18, 1909, in West Glasgow, Missouri, and baptized Magdalena, the seventh of their ten children, two boys and eight girls. Both parents were of German ancestry and Missouri natives, Louis Borges from Warrington and Frances Meyer from West Glasgow. Both were dedicated Catholics.

Magdalena’s early years were all in Missouri. She began her education at Anaham School in Saline County, then transferred to Gilliam Elementary School. In her autobiography, she wrote of her First Communion, celebrated in 1919 at All Saints Church in West Glasgow.

We were prepared by the parish priest in the summer school religious education program, followed by a three-day retreat in which we kept silence all day until the time to go home in the late afternoon. This priest gave me a great love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Her high school years were spent at Gilliam High School, from which she graduated in May 1928. She was active in sports, and wrote that her father was protective of his daughters. He saw to it that they rode to all games with adult drivers.

She was a senior in high school when the first thought of being a sister entered her mind. Sister Joseph Therese Kruse, her cousin, was on a home visit. Sister Joseph Therese couldn’t stay at her family’s home because there was no room, so she stayed with Magdalena’s married sister Veronica, who had an extra bedroom. It was while visiting Veronica that Magdalena met Sister Joseph Therese, who asked her if she had ever thought of being a sister, and wrote to her during the following year. It was a difficult decision for Magdalena, but she decided to enter the Adrian Dominicans. It was also difficult for her parents, but “my mother loved the sisters. . . . I know she must have prayed that one of her daughters would be a sister.”

On September 4, 1928, Magdalena arrived in Adrian and received the postulant’s veil from Mother Camilla Madden. She thought that she would be studying Dominican life and attending college, but instead she was sent that same day to Bad Axe, Michigan, where she taught middle grade students at Sacred Heart School for the 1928-29 school year. She returned to Adrian for the summer, and received the habit and her religious name (taken in tribute to her parents) on August 6, 1929. The required canonical novitiate year followed. With her group, she professed her first vows on August 7, 1930.

Within a short time of profession, she was on her way to Detroit, where she taught small children at St. Dominic School for three years. Then she spent seven years in the middle grades at St. Nicholas in Chicago. There Sister Georgina Luznicky was in her third grade class. At the wake Sister Georgina told a humorous story. At the end of the year in third grade, she did not receive her report card, and when her parents made inquiries Sister Frances Louise told them that she had not done the “articles” at the ends of the chapters in the Green Arithmetic Book. The “articles” were all long division, and Sister Georgina had not done them because she didn’t like to do long division. Sister Georgina’s father told Sister Frances Louise that the “articles” would be completed and brought to her within a short time.

I learned about fortitude, perseverance, and determination. She cared enough about me to teach me a lesson that I never forgot. . . . To my utter dismay, when the classroom listings were displayed in September, I had Sister Frances Louise in fourth grade. Needless to say, I started on the “articles” in September.

As a result of summer study at Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian, in August 1940 Sister Frances Louise received a bachelor’s degree with a major in history and minors in English and French.

Brought back to Michigan, she taught for four years in Detroit. First she was assigned to teach older youngsters for a year at St. Lawrence then moved to St. Gabriel School for two years and St. Edward School for a year. In 1944 she returned to Illinois, and taught in the middle grades at St. Patrick in St. Charles for a year, then at Queen of Angels in Chicago for two years. During the summer of 1945, she served as a nurses’ aide at Providence Hospital in Detroit, and the Red Cross awarded her a nurses’ aide certificate.

She traveled to Florida in 1947, where she taught at St. Mary in Fort Walton Beach. A year later she returned to Illinois, and taught for five years at Sacred Heart in Joliet. In 1953 she taught at another school called Sacred Heart, this time in Solen, North Dakota, for six years, the last three years as superior and principal. In July 1954, she received from Siena Heights College a certificate in theology.

Returning to the Midwest in 1959, she taught junior high students at St. Mary of Mount Carmel in Chicago for six years, then moved for a year to Ascension in Harvey, Illinois, and for a year to St. Clare of Montefalco in Chicago. In 1967 she was sent to Newberry in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where she taught for three years. Sister Nadine Foley, who entered the Congregation from Newberry, spoke at the wake:

What I appreciate about her and Sister Pancratius [Barthel] is what they did in transforming the town’s understanding of Catholics. It was a largely Protestant town . . . and the Protestants had a misunderstanding of Catholicism and the priesthood. SisterPancratius turned that around and helped change attitudes.

Sister Frances Louise was one who continued carrying that on. I had entered so I didn’t have direct contact with her, but she developed a relationship with my mother, and she always told me that my mother was beautiful. . . . In my contact with Sister Frances Louise here, I learned what a wonderful, loving woman she was.

When Sister Frances Louise left Newberry, she returned to Chicago for a year at St. Carthage and four years at St. Philip Neri. After a year in Flagstaff, Arizona, at Nativity School, she returned to Illinois in 1976 to spend thirteen years at St. Albert the Great in Burbank. She retired in 1989 at the age of eighty, but continued living and volunteering at St. Albert the Great. She wrote that she missed teaching very much.

Again, she was helpful to Sister Georgina Luznicky. Sister Georgina’s mother was elderly, unable to live alone, and Sister Georgina had received permission to live with her. Sister Georgina was ministering in the Education Office of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and would prepare and leave a lunch in the refrigerator for her mother. She contacted Sister Frances Louise, who was just ten minutes away, and asked her to stop in at noon and see that her mother ate her lunch.

The hour that she agreed on grew quickly. She left a note telling me that she would make the lunches—not to bother (they were much better, I am sure). Another day, I came home to find that she had vacuumed. Then there was a note telling me to buy chicken so she could make soup—she was a good cook. Sister and my mother got along great—they enjoyed each other’s company—visited and solved all the problems—said the Rosary. Sister was a treasure. I will always remember her with a grateful heart for her goodness, not just to my mother, but to me.

Sister Frances Louise returned to Adrian in 1998. Sister Carol Denise Koenig had some stories from that time.

When Sister Frances Louise was thinking of coming to Adrian permanently, she called me to find out if I might find a job for her in the mailroom, since I happened to be in charge at the time. . . . When she came, she insisted on working on a daily basis, and when there was not enough work to keep her busy she’d bring her crocheting and make items for her family.

When I was having knee surgery two years in a row, Sister Frances Louise asked if she could stay with my mom for the six-week recovery period, so that my mom wouldn’t be alone since my dad had just died. I didn’t have to ask for help. It was just generously offered.

Again, when my mom was here at Maria for a few years, Sister Frances Louise visited her daily to help relieve my having to be here so often. When she became weaker before death, it was Sister Frances Louise who fed her each evening to be a help for the nurses. I didn’t know about this for a long time. Just like Sister Frances Louise—just do, and don’t take credit.

Sister Joella Miller shared a humorous story.

When Sister Frances Louise was ninety years old, she wanted to take some of us out to eat for her birthday. We told her that we should be taking her out, but she insisted. She wanted to go to Bill Knapp’s. So all six of us went, had a wonderful meal, and a good time. We told the waitress that it was her birthday, so we wanted a cake, which we had. Then it was time for the bill. Sister Frances insisted on taking it. Well, the manager came to collect and told her, “You know, we take a dollar off your bill for every year old that you are.” He said, “How old are you?” She said, “I’m ninety years old.” The manager said, “At that rate, the restaurant would owe you.” She loved to tell that story.

On May 4, Shelle Patterson, Sister Frances Louise’s grandniece, sent an e-mail letter for Mother’s Day that was read to Sister before her death. It was also read at the wake. She wrote, “We are so lucky that you have been like a grandmother to us since our Grandma was called to God so many years ago,” and mentioned that Sister Frances Louise had taught her to make apple pie, to take headache medicine with Pepsi, to hem a skirt. She wrote of floating down the Rock River in an inner tube with Sister Frances Louise (who was eighty-five years of age at that time), painting the cabin, plus many fun visits with her in Chicago.

I even wrote a paper in high school about you. It was titled “Nuns Are People, Too!” You’re a pretty good card player, too!

All of these things don’t even touch what you taught us about caring for and loving one another and the Lord. . . . We got to have you as our surrogate grandmother, and I am so thankful that I got to know you, spend time with you, and to love you! Happy Mother’s Day, Sister!!

Death came to Sister Frances Louise the day after she received that e-mail.

Sister Frances Louise’s wake-remembrance service was held in St. Catherine Chapel on May 8. Present were her sister Doris Schaeffer, her brother Louis, her nieces Betty Palaski and Eileen Haskamp, and many Dominican friends.

Sister Joan Sustersic, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, opened the service, welcomed those who had assembled, and extended sympathy. She summarized Sister Francis Louise’s life and ministry, and spoke of her last years.

Hearing was difficult for her. While in her nineties, she suffered a broken wrist that was repaired with plates and screws, had a mastectomy, and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which caused constant pain. . . . She fiercely fought to maintain her independence. . . . In late 2006, because of circulation problems it was necessary to amputate her left leg. . . . Despite this, she still suffered pain, some of it from other physical problems, and it meant total loss of independence.

Sister Frances Louise’s funeral liturgy was celebrated on May 9. Father Roland Calvert, OSFS, was the presider and homilist. In his homily, Father said in part:

Sister Frances Louise learned well the central question of life, that love has to be at the center of all that we say and do. She gave the gift of love generously to others. She was a good shepherd to many others, following the great example of Christ.

She dealt with severe health problems, particularly toward the end of her life. A group of us gathered in her room last Saturday after Mass for an anointing service. It was clear that Sister was struggling for life. A few hours after that, the Lord took her.

Sister Frances Louise has passed from her death bed and made the journey to the stars. She sees face to face this day the one “whose dwelling is the light of setting suns.” This is the same God who said through Isaiah, “The lost I will seek out, the injured I will heal.” Sister Frances Louise, who gave so much love to others, now lives forever with the Author of all love in Heaven.

Sister Frances Louise’s new life with the Author of life began on May 5, 2007, when God took her to eternity.