Sister Mary Augustine

March 10, 1931 – March 13, 2025

Sister Anna Marie Broxtermann, Eulogist
with reflections from the late Sister Margaret Nacke

This eulogy has a preface:  S. Margaret Nacke was asked by S. Mary to do her eulogy a number of years ago, and Margaret had said yes and wrote her eulogy soon thereafter.  Well, a year ago, S. Mary realized that Margaret would die before she did.  She then asked me if I would do her eulogy and told me Margaret had it written so I am sharing S. Margaret’s reflections.
“I am here for you.” These were S. Mary’s words to her family at the wake for her sister Betty. Although the words were directed to her family, it seemed to be her life’s mantra: whether in the classroom, hospital room, or wherever she served, she was available.
Elizabeth Mary Augustine was born on a farm in Ellis, Kansas, on March 10, 1931, to Matthias Augustine and Regina Flax Augustine. She was the oldest of nine children.  She had five brothers and three sisters. In the order of their birth, Leo, Helen, Marcella, Betty, Elmer, Al, Virgil, and Irvin.  Her sister Marcella resides in a nursing residence in Denison, Texas.  Her three youngest brothers and their spouses are here with us now.
“My roots,” she said, “began in Ellis and reached as far west as Gove County and as far east as Salina, where I attended Sacred Heart, grades 8-11.” Mary began school speaking German.  She said she must have passed first grade with flying colors because her teacher wanted her to take the second and third grades the same year, but her dad said, “No, she will do one grade at a time just like the other children.”
On September 8, 1948, at age seventeen, Mary entered the Sisters of St. Joseph to fulfill her long-time dream of becoming a Sister.  Msgr. John Duskie was the first to help her dream become a reality.  In his letter of recommendation, he said: “Her conduct has always been exemplary.  She is a frequent, or to be more correct, a daily communicant.  As far as I have learned, she comes from a good Catholic home.”
In Mary’s letter of application to Mother Mary Chrysostom, she wrote: “I thought that on the Feast of the Annunciation, I would ask to enter the convent.  May I plan on entering in September?  I have had the desire to become a Sister for a number of years and have decided that I could serve God better as a Sister rather than as a person in the world.  Would you please pray for me?”
Sister Mary was known in early religious life as Sister Mary Virgil.  In a report for final profession, her superior Sister Joan of Arc wrote: “Sister Virgil is very prayerful.  She is faithful to her spiritual exercises and does not neglect her visits to the Blessed Sacrament.  Sister has been a source of good example by her faithful observance of our Holy Rule, especially the Holy Rule of Silence.  Besides being a good religious, Sister seems to be conscientious in her assigned duty of teaching. In my estimation, Sister Virgil has the makings of a Good Sister of St. Joseph.”
Mary received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Marymount College and her Master’s in Education Administration from Kansas State University to begin her twenty-nine year teaching career that took her to Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois and back to Kansas. She taught students from grades one through twelve and served as a principal/teacher in some of the schools.  Sister Mary completed a three-year term on the Professional Teaching Standards Advisory Board of the Kansas Department of Education ending in 1982.  Members of this Board were charged with the duty of recommending policies, procedures, and standards relating to state accreditation and approval of programs for teacher education.

Following her years in the classroom, she felt called to a new ministry. This call took her to the Chemical Dependency Unit at St. John Hospital, Salina, where she served as Clergy Counselor for six years.  Her work at St. John’s Hospital was followed by her ministry at Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish as Parish Minister from August 1993 to June 2001. As she began this position, she spoke to those she would be serving: “Today, I am looking forward to serving with you, the people of our Cathedral Parish, and working with you to make the Cathedral Parish an even more vibrant faith-filled community. We can accomplish this if together we pray, work, share, play, and worship for God and God’s glory.”
In an article in a Salina Diocese Register in 1996, George Carroll wrote this about Sr. Mary quoting words from one of Vatican II documents, Lumen Gentium, a document which outlines the nature and mission of the Church.  I quote, “For the nurturing and constant growth of the people of God, Christ the Lord, instituted in the Church a variety of ministries which work for the good of the whole body.  The Church, like Christ, is called to follow the path of service, humility and sacrifice…” end of quote.  He said that “these words were written for people like Sr. Mary Augustine”.
Mary stated that she gave numerous talks to differing groups during this time. She said her ministry at the Cathedral gave her the privilege of ministering to the elderly, the homebound, the sick, the hospitalized, and the bereaved.  
At the end of the Cathedral ministry, she began work as a Chaplain at Salina Regional Medical Center.  She not only ministered to the sick and dying throughout the hospital. She was also a compassionate listener to the staff.  Her ministry commitment statements each year are reflective of her desire to be a compassionate listener as well as a desire to bring peace and reconciliation to all.
Sr. Margaret lived in Belleville when Sr. Mary was a hospital chaplain and related one of her experiences of Sr. Mary’s availability to the sick.  Margaret spoke of calling Mary one evening at 9:00 p.m., telling her that one of the parishioners from Belleville was on his by ambulance to Salina Regional. Though Sr. Mary had just gotten home from work, she asked, “Do you want me to go see him?” This is the character of the woman we are honoring tonight, Sr. Margaret concluded, a woman whose heart and mind were set and tuned to serve the dear neighbor.  This is our Sister who meant it when she said: “I am here for you.”  
I say Amen to Sr. Margaret’s words and wish to add just one more story that speaks of S. Mary’s ongoing ministry, even as one requiring nursing care here at the Motherhouse. Ambria Gilliland, who works in our Development Office, had posted on our bulletin board that her 4-year-old son, Brooks, needed to have a kidney removed at Children’s Mercy, a surgery scheduled for tomorrow.  Sr. Mary read that note and contacted Ambria, wanting to assure her that she would indeed pray. She asked Ambria if she could bring Brooks to visit so she would know for sure whom she would be praying for.  Ambria related this to me shortly after Sr. Mary’s death on Thursday and regretted that time had not allowed her to bring Brooks to see Mary.  However, Ambria is confident that Sr. Mary will be Brooks’ greatest and most influential intercessor in the surgical suite tomorrow.
Sr. Mary died Thursday, March 13. On the evening of Tuesday, the 11th, it appeared that Mary was going to die then, but she told me, “I told God no because I need to see my brothers first.”  Her three brothers., Al, Irvin, Virgil, and his wife Noni, spent Wednesday afternoon with her and, while here, face-timed with their sister Marcella in Texas. They shared their goodbyes early in the evening, and shortly thereafter, S. Mary thanked the nursing staff on duty individually for all their care and said she would not be here the following day. Well, she was here the following day, but she was correct in that she was no longer verbally responsive.  She died at 3:15 p.m. Thursday.
Sr. Mary, we are here for you this evening.  We will miss your presence with us; however, we pray that your homecoming is beyond any expectation you have ever had.