Sister Leo Frances Winbinger — 60 years

BORN: Cuba, Kan.
ENTERED CONGREGATION: March 18, 1950

Sister Leo Francis Winbinger is now approaching this grand moment of celebrating 60 years as a Sister of St. Joseph of Concordia. It’s a very special moment to celebrate and to recall special steppingstones that led to this exceptional occasion.

She was born Theresa Elizabeth Winbinger on June 18, 1930. Her early life was devoted to music, and she sang and learned to play a variety of instruments.

Those gifts led in time to a scholarship to attend Marymount College. It was there during her first semester that she recognized the call to religious life and entered the community.

Sister Leo Francis taught on various missions and continued her college studies, mostly in the summer, until she graduated from Marymount on May 26, 1963.

While music was important throughout her life, the joy of being a “jack of all trades” and helping wherever she could provided the most treasured times.

Throughout her years of teaching, Leo Francis served in Herndon, Manhattan, Plainville, Salina and Tipton, Kan., as well as Revenna, Neb.; Boonville, Mo.; Silver City, N.M.; Chicago, Ill.; and Gladstone, Mich.

She also served in a variety of “fill-in” posts at Marymount and the Motherhouse.

Illness brings its limitations, as it has for Leo Francis, and it is through this reflective mirror the beauty of this sister shines through. She always has a welcoming greeting and gratitude for those who care for her at Mount Joseph. She looked forward to living at Mount Joseph, noting that her mother had received care there years earlier. She has said that living there is a blessing.

The one highlight that keeps her focused on prayer today is a statue of the Little Infant Jesus of Prague, which she keeps in a place of honor in her room.

When asked what she would like written for her 60th Jubilee, Sister Leo Francis responded without hesitation: “Thank the Lord that he asked me to come to him.”

— Written by Sister Anne Martin Reinert