BALIK, Ludmila (Sister Aloysius) 1898-1999

JAROSH, BALIK, SCHMITT

Posted By: IA GenWeb Volunteer
Date: 9/24/2010 at 17:26:55

Decorah Journal, Thursday, May 27, 1999

Sister Aloysius Ludmila Balik

Ludmila Balik (Sister Aloysius), 100, of Omaha, Neb., died Saturday, May 15, 1999, at the Notre Dame convent.

A funeral mass was held Tuesday, May 18, at the Notre Dame chapel.

Ludmila was born in SPILLVILLE, Sept. 12, 1898, the daughter of Wenceslaus and Mary (Jarosh) Balik. She was one of 16 children of her Czech immigrant parents.

She completed her high school education through correspondence courses at her family's farm in Spillville, before moving to Notre Dame convent in Cedar Rapids.

Ludmila became Sister Aloysius when she was only 18 and the United States province of the Notre Dame order had only been in existence for six years.

Sister Aloysius taught elementary schools for 52 years in the town of Brainard, Neb., Cedar Rapids, SPILLVILLE and Chelsea.

After retiring in 1968, she spent the next 18 years visiting the sick and dying, working at St. Vincent De Paul thrift store, serving as a sacristan of the church, making crafts and playing the organ.

She moved to Omaha in 1986 and continued her work in crafts and music. She also had more time to enjoy favorite pastimes, watching cartoons and sports on TV while sipping Pepsi. Sister Aloysius also was remembered as slipping into the chapel when a favorite sports team was losing.

Sister Margaret Hickey, provincial president of the Notre Dame Sisters noted Sister Aloysius also readily accepted the Catholic Church's Vatican II transformation in the 1960's, "She kept very interested and very willing to learn. She tried to help laity understand. I really consider her a woman ahead of her time."

Survivors of Sister Aloysius include one sister, Emma Schmitt of Mason City, and many nieces and nephews.

Transcribed by an IA GenWeb Volunteer from obituaries found in the Howard-Winneshiek Genealogy Society Library, Cresco, Iowa.