Eulogy for Sister Vera Meis, CSJ

Eulogist: Loretta Jasper, CSJ

Vera Louise Meis was born at 6:00 a.m. on June 27, 1939, in Weskan, Kansas, and welcomed into the fullness of God’s life on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at 5:15 a.m., at Nazareth Motherhouse, Concordia, Kansas. Peacefully, peacefully, at the age of 86,  in her 61st year as a Sister of St. Joseph of Concordia.  

Vera has joined her parents, brothers Finian, Larry, and Herb, and sister Betty; generations of family members; multiple Sisters of St. Joseph; and many, many friends and loved ones from years past. She is now sharing a full reunion during this Holy Week and time of Resurrection!  The communion of Saints…the church in full array… is assisting us now, today, in our grief and loss as we continue about our lives and adjust to the physical absence of Vera.

Sympathy, love, and prayer are with each of you as family, as Community members, and friends throughout the country. Vera’s love has been shared with many through the years.

Vera wrote: “My Mother told me that the night Dad drove her to the hospital prior to my birth was so beautiful. It was after a rain. The Moon was full…rather romantic. Dad and Mom were so pleased, as I was their first daughter. I had two older brothers: Norman (Finian) and Larry.”

Siblings to follow in birth included Herbert—18 months later; Betty, when Vera was 4; Fred—4 years later; and Milton, born 2 years following Fred’s birth. Vera wrote: “Dad now had his basketball team—five boys and two cheerleaders”.

Faith was the utmost in the Meis household, nurtured by her parents and carried on throughout the family and in Vera’s life.

Following high school graduation, Vera attended Marymount College in Salina, intending to become a secretary. While a student at Marymount, she worked part-time at Mason Investment Co. to help cover her college expenses. Following her first year at Marymount, Vera joined her parents in Jamestown. They had recently purchased, owned, and operated a Hardware and Case Implement Co., which also included bookkeeping.

At the end of a workday in the family business, Vera would frequently stop by the Little Rock Church in Jamestown for quiet.  It was during those times that Vera discerned and responded to her call to be a Sister of St. Joseph of Concordia. On September 8, 1965, Vera joined 18 women as postulants, which is the first level of association and orientation to the Sisters of St. Joseph. Eleven months later, on August 15, 1966, she received our  traditional habit and was given the name Sister Rose Victor. The name change was common at that time to represent the beginning of a new life. Her public profession of first vows followed one year later at the completion of novitiate, here at the Motherhouse, which was then followed by one year in the Juniorate at Marymount College, which included academic studies, increased study of spirituality and theology, and weekend ministry teaching religious education in the outlying areas of Salina on weekends.

Vera’s first assigned ministry location included teaching elementary school at Gladstone, Michigan, for the six years that followed…a place Vera loved, as she stated in her life story.  Her heart was shattered by the unexpected death of her father during her 5th year in Gladstone, but also held in support and healing by the Sisters with whom she was sharing life in her local community in Gladstone.

Her teaching then continued in 1st grade for one year in Grand Island, Nebraska, until she responded to the invitation of Bishop Sullivan to join a team in ministry in opening Resurrection Parish in Grand Island. Again, this ministry maintains a special place in Vera’s heart.

Vera moved from Grand Island to Norton, Kansas, upon invitation to begin a combined parish ministry and chaplaincy at Valley Hope for five years.  Those five years merged into more than 18 years as a full-time chaplain at Valley Hope in Norton and also in Parker, CO, to assist in opening a new facility. Vera states in her life story that serving the broken hearts with addictions was one of the deepest spiritual experiences of her life.  The people she served were searching for those who really believed in God. Those she served searched for faith, forgiveness, eternal life—Vera’s words.  She then continues in her life story with: “I knew the most important gift to offer was my faith in God. Thus, to strengthen my faith was of utmost importance in my life: prayer, celebration of Eucharist, Holy Week Liturgies…all provided food for the journey in order to be all that God asked me to be.  This included living the Mass as I believe my parents did for me.”

She continues her life story, which was scribed in her longhand. This section contained lots of underlined words and captions. For those of us who knew Vera, she really meant this. Balance is important. Balance of: incarnational theology with creation theology; feminine with masculine; learning the wisdom of the elderly while gaining the insights of the young; maintaining individual freedom with common good; prayer with action; work with leisure.  Developing the physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional. Underlined and in captions: If we are Balanced, then we can be a Prophetic Witness in an Unbalanced World.

 It was during her time in Parker, CO, that Vera took several months’ leave of absence  to care for her Mother in her final stages of living with cancer, so she could remain in her home.  Again, Vera stated: “Taking care of my Mother was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The bond that developed in those months was stronger than any I had known. We planned her funeral together, shared faith, tears, fears, and joys. I gave her Holy Communion for the last time just before she died.”

Following her tenure with Valley Hope in Parker, Vera then served as a counselor on our own CSJ Leadership team in 1995, for four years in Concordia—the ministry of service within and to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Her active and apostolic ministry was highlighted and concluded between 2000 and 2023 in the parishes of Scottsbluff and Mitchell, Nebraska, including service to elders in the ministry of praying, listening, and relationship building in daily life.  This was a time of merging and integrating the graces and all the gifts of ministry through the years for Vera.

Vera’s return to the Motherhouse provided her with the necessary care and love needed in these recent years, given her physical and mental diminishment with Alzheimer’s.

In her best of living, Vera was serious about whatever she was about: her appearance, her attentiveness to the person, relationships, and her spiritual life.  

Serious? In my life with her, unbeknownst to her, I’m sure she rarely passed a mirror or darkened window at night without checking out her appearance. As young Sisters praying daily in the pews of the non-airconditioned Motherhouse chapel pews, Vera fainted. Of course, those around her provided attention and care. Twenty-five years later, Vera fessed up: She had fallen asleep that particular day. Honestly? Most of us praying around her by then would have dozed and napped long before she “fainted”. Only Vera!

Let us continue to join together in this journey of transition of our loss and gratitude for Vera  as she is welcomed into God’s fullness. She now participates in God’s full reign, interceding for us in ways unknown.