Thoma, Imogene

THOMA, AMADEO, BIITTNER

Posted By: carol (email)
Date: 9/20/2005 at 15:35:07

Sister Imogene Thoma, OSF, 102, died on Sunday, April 3, 2005, at The Alverno Health Care Facility in Clinton, Iowa. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Monday, April 11, 2005, at 10 a.m., at The Canticle, 841 13th Avenue North in Clinton. Rev. Michael Amadeo (her nephew) will preside at the Mass. The visitation will be on Sunday, April 10, from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. at The Canticle with a rosary recited at 3:30 p.m. and a Scripture service at 6:30 p.m. Pallbearers will be her family and the Sisters of St. Francis. Burial will be in St. Irenaeus Cemetery in Clinton following the Mass. Nelson Funeral Home, DeWitt, Iowa, is in charge of arrangements.
Marie Irene Thoma was born November 6, 1902, in Varina, Iowa, to Anton and Emma (Biittner) Thoma. She was baptized on December 1, 1902, at St. Columbkille Church in Varina. She was a graduate of St. Columbkille School, Varina, and of Mount St. Clare Academy, Clinton. She received her Associate of Arts Degree from Mount St. Clare College, Clinton, and her Bachelor of Arts Degree from St. Ambrose University, Davenport. She held an Iowa Elementary Permanent Professional Teaching Certificate.
She entered the congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis at Mount St. Clare Convent in Clinton, Iowa, on September 8, 1929, and received the name Mary Imogene at her reception on April 22, 1930. Two of her sisters were also members of the congregation.
Sister Imogene spent 45 years of active ministry teaching in the primary grades. Iowa missions of which she served for a total of 17 years were Placid, Victor, Grand Mound and Akron. She also taught in Maysville, Kentucky; Cameron, Missouri; Macomb and Rochelle, Illinois; and in Chino and Reedley, California. After withdrawing from full-time classroom teaching in 1976, she returned to Clinton, where she resided at Mount St. Clare Convent and spent several years assisting with the elementary tutoring program at Mount St. Clare. In June 2004 she celebrated 75 years as a member of the congregation.
In 1997, she moved to The Canticle, home of the Clinton Franciscans. She moved to The Alverno in 1999 where she lived until her death on Sunday.
Sister Imogene was preceded in death by her parents, four brothers and four sisters, one niece and two nephews.
Survivors include many nieces and nephews and her Clinton Franciscan sisters.
Memorials may be made to Sisters of St. Francis.
Published in the Quad-City Times on 4/7/2005.