A memorial Mass for Sister Mary Jeanice Speidel, FSM, will be celebrated at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, at the Marian Chapel at the Sarah Community in Bridgeton. A second memorial Mass will be held at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, at Mother of Good Counsel Home in Northwoods. Sister Jeanice of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary died Dec. 9 at the age of 93.
Born Mary Elizabeth Speidel on Sept. 9, 1932, in De Soto, she was the oldest of eight children born to Anthony L. and Ruth M. (Smith) Speidel. In 1949, she began working at St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Louis; on Nov. 21, 1949, she entered the Sisters of St. Mary. She received the name Sister Mary Jeanice, and she professed final vows Sept. 8, 1955. (In 1987, the Sisters of St. Mary reunited with the Sisters of St. Francis of Maryville, Missouri, as the Franciscan Sisters of Mary.)
She completed her bachelor’s degree in nursing through Saint Louis University in 1957.
Sister Jeanice served as night supervisor at St. Mary’s in St. Louis for two years, then was at St. Joseph’s in St. Charles for a year. She was then missioned to Arequipa, Peru, where she served as supervisor of surgery, central service and obstetrics (1962-66). She then served as supervisor of nursing in La Paz, Bolivia (1966-68).
From 1968 to 1972 she worked as medical and obstetrics supervisor at St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo, Wisconsin. From there she headed to Harlingen, Texas, near the Mexican border, where she directed the mobile medical unit for Cameron County, working with immigrants (1972-76). She commented that “as far as living conditions and serving the poor, just caring for the needs of the people, there is more ‘mission work’ and ‘mission conditions’ in Texas than either Arequipa or La Paz.”
She returned to the Midwest, serving as nursing supervisor at Arcadia Valley Hospital in Ironton, Missouri (1976-78), and as ICU nurse and head labor and delivery nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital in Kansas City (1978-82). She served at the motherhouse, then as labor and delivery nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Charles (1983-87). In 1987, she returned as a nurse for Holy Family Birthing Services in Weslaco, Texas (1987-94).
For a decade (1995-2005) she worked as a home health nurse for Nurses for Newborns in St. Louis. In 2005, she took on the role of community director, then co-community director for the sisters living at St. Mary of the Angels convent until the last sisters were moved to The Sarah Community in summer of 2011. Sister Jeanice moved to The Sarah Community in February 2011, where she continued to minister to many, including volunteering at homeless shelters such as Room at the Inn.
“I take joy in being able to help and care for others wherever and however I can,” she said. “I am busy helping sisters and residents, recycling, volunteering at homeless shelters, and keeping in touch with friends and coworkers, letting them know I care about them and pray for them.”
“My mission in South America was a very rewarding experience. I also thoroughly enjoyed working with young nursing graduates at Holy Family Birth Center, a free-standing birth center on the southern border of Texas, which also gave me the opportunity to volunteer in a clinic in Mexico on my day off. Being present and helping moms through the birth process and delivery was seeing a miracle each time.”
Sister Jeanice donated her body to science.
