A funeral Mass for Sister Rosemary Micka was celebrated May 24 at St. Mary’s Church in Alton, Ill. Sister Rosemary, formerly Sister Mary Bernard, died May 20 at age 98.
A native of St. Louis, she was among seven of 11 children in her family who entered religious life. After high school, Sister Rosemary earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Saint Louis University. She entered the Sisters of Divine Providence in 1942, and served more than 70 years as both a teacher and principal. She ministered in schools in St. Louis; Jefferson City, Mo.; and Chicago, Madison, Collinsville, Venice and Westchester, Ill., where she was a teacher and a principal from 1972-2000.
Upon retiring from teaching, she moved to St. Clare Villa in Alton and had a ministry of care and prayer with the residents of the assisted-living facility, using humor to cheer up residents or being a comforting presence. She prepared the monthly activity calendar, taught a food service worker how to read, kept the house account of the sisters in residence and made greeting cards used by the local Villa community.
Sister Rosemary enjoyed making rosaries and was grateful for God’s presence in her life, in good times and bad.
“To know that every situation in my life, even the most painful, is ordered in His Providence for my good is very consoling,” she said. “I try each day to get rid of my ‘self’ will and to draw closer to Him and His will in my life.”
