Sister Alice Kelley 1900-2000

KELLEY, KELLY, PAUSE, HURLEY, MORGAN, PETERSON, KRAUSE, ONEILL

Posted By: A. Bruce Owens (email)
Date: 12/27/2010 at 21:04:18

Lord of heaven and earth, to you I offer praise.
For what You have hidden from the learned and clever, You have revealed to the merest children.
Matt. 11:25

Sister Alice Kelley, FSP A

Sister Alice Kelley, FSPA, 100, died Thursday, November 2, 2000, at Villa St. Joseph. She was in the eighty-first year of her religious profession.

On Easter Sunday Sister Alice enthusiastically celebrated her 100th birthday. Community members and family gathered at the Villa where she was guest of honor at a prayer service and reception. A tree and flowering bush were planted in the front yard in her honor. She talked for days about the nice party. During recent weeks it was evident that she was weakening and she spoke about wanting to die. Sisters sat with her some nights and the nurses checked in on her more frequently. On Thursday afternoon the nurses had turned her and she died shortly thereafter at 3:15 p.m.

Sister Alice was born on April 23, 1900, the seventh of eight children, five sons and three daughters, to John and Gertrude (Pause) Hurley on a farm near New Albin, Iowa. She was named Lillian and baptized in the Lutheran Church her mother attended. When Lillian was two years old, her mother became ill and called for the priest. On her deathbed she asked to become a Catholic and asked that her children be baptized Catholic. Within half an hour of being anointed and receiving Holy Communion, Mrs. Hurley died. At the wake for her mother, Lillian crawled onto the lap of Dan Kelley* and fell asleep. Later, she would not allow them to take her from his arms so the Kelley's took her home with them that night and took her to the funeral the next day. When the Kelley's asked if they could keep Lillian, since they loved children and had none of their own, Mr. Hurley consented because he was not in good health. The children were baptized at St. Joseph Church, New Albin, on September 16, 1904. Their father died a short time later of tuberculosis.

A few years later Mrs. Kelley visited her sister, Sister Claudia Morgan, at St. Rose Convent. While they were visiting, Lillian wandered around the yard and was asked by one of the sisters if she would like to be a sister. When Lillian answered in the affirmative, the sister wrote her name on a slip of paper and told Lillian to write to her when she was sixteen years old. Lillian carried that piece of paper for eight years. When she asked her parents (which is how she always referred to the Kelley's) if she could enter the convent, her father objected and wouldn't give her the money for the dowry. So Lillian and her older brother entered a dance contest and won first prize. She talked him into giving her his half of the prize money and the next morning went to see the pastor for a recommendation. That very day, November 25, 1916, the pastor, her father and her older brother accompanied her to La Crosse. She handed the little slip of paper to the sister who came to the door at St. Rose Convent. In a short time Mother Seraphine Krause appeared in the parlor to welcome her.

Lillian was received into the novitiate July 2, 1918, and received the name Sister Alice. She made her first profession on July 29, 1920, and pronounced final vows on July 1, 1926.

After ministering as an elementary teacher for twenty years and earning a Master's Degree in philosophy and English from Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, Sister Alice taught in secondary schools in Iowa, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. Toward the end of her teaching years, she was involved in religious education and library work.

Community members and family remember Sister Alice as an excellent teacher. In 1954 her students received the Superior Achievement Certificate in the International Bookkeeping Contest. Sister Alice received an award from Today's Catholic Teacher magazine in recognition of her distinguished editorial contribution. As a child she helped the parish priest with religious instructions on Saturdays, telling Bible stories and helping the children with prayers and catechism questions. Her love for catechetics remained constant throughout her life as she taught countless children and instructed many teachers. Sister Alice loved nature, crocheting and working word search books. She was really appreciative of the care she received at the Villa and was quick to share her feelings with others.

Sister Alice is survived by her Franciscan community; a half-sister, Mrs. Gladys Peterson, La Farge, Wisconsin; nieces, nephews and cousins. Her birth parents, her adoptive parents, five brothers and two sisters preceded her in death.

Friends may call after 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 5, when the body will be met at St. Rose Convent. A prayer service will follow. Father Thomas O'Neill, Viterbo University chaplain, will preside at the Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, November 6, in Mary of the Angels Chapel. Burial will be in Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery, La Crosse.

Memorials may be sent to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 912 Market Street, La Crosse, WI 54601-8800.

~FSPA ARCHIVES 912 Market St.
La Crosse, WI 54601

*The “e” was not used by her adoptive family Dan and Ella Kelly

Photos:
Left - Sister Alice Kelley, 1952
Right - Sister Alice Kelley, later years

Allamakee Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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