Smoke Signals 7
JUNE 15, 2005
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Wall Of Remembrance Dedicated At St. Paul Pioneer Cemetery
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Reverence On Monday, May 30, the Tribe was invited to at
tend the Wall of Remembrance Dedication in St. Paul, Oregon. The
Wall of Remembrance (right) honors the 535 settlers and Native
Americans that are buried in the Pioneer Cemetery established in
1 839. Tribal Elder Kathryn Harrison did the invocation, Tribal mem
bers Bobby Mercier and Travis Stewart sang an Honor song and
Tribal member Maria Ramirez (above) signed the Lord's Prayer.
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Photos by Toby McClary
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The Passing Of Sister Margaret Mary
Former teacher at St. Michael stirs long forgotten memories.
By Ron Karten
When Sister Margaret Mary
(SSMO) served the St. Michael
mission and school starting in
1946, she bought a school bus with
S&H green stamps, said Sister Ina
Marie Nosack (SSMO), who was
principal of the school when Sis
ter Margaret Mary taught grades
three to five there.
She passed on in February this
year. Found among her things
were the following notes:
"Sept. 4 1962. We started to
save S&H green stamps for a new
school bus for Grand Ronde,
Dec. 25 1962. We reached 100
books of S&H stamps.
June 3 1963. We now have
913 S&H books plus 500 other types
and $516. The bus was ordered and
will be picked up in early August."
"She was just wonderful," said
Tribal member Violet Zimbrick, who
attended the St. Michael school,
and remembered Sister Margaret
Mary's youth and energy.
"She would get down on the
Sister Margaret Mary
ground and play marbles with the
boys," said Zimbrick. "She'd lift her
habit up to run the bases. She was
a real young, enthusiastic person."
Tribal member Sharon Herron
remembered that Sister Margaret
i i s t t . f ( . i , i ; e i r I i ! t ) t i t !
Mary's brother came to visit riding
his motorcycle and Sister Marga
ret Mary jumped on, habit and all,
and rode it around. "The majority
of the kids in seventh and eighth
probably enjoyed that the most,"
said Herron.
A lifelong teacher, Sister Marga
ret Mary made use of everything to
get a point across. "She took all of
us girls to the nun's rooms," said
Zimbrick, "and we would bake.
That's how we learned fractions.
We'd cut up the cake."
Sister Margaret Mary also served
in a rural outpost of Peru, where
Sister Ina reported, "When she'd
come home on the boat, she'd be
heavy laden, and little kids would
run down and help her carry
things. She always had treats for
the kids who helped her and she
never had any trouble with help
carrying things up."
In 1946, the Sisters of Saint Mary
of Oregon (SSMO) came to the mis
sion in Grand Ronde at St. Michael
Church to staff the school. Before
them, the Holy Names sisters now
of Marylhurst and Benedictine sis
ters from both St. Paul, Minnesota
and Mt. Angel provided religious
education here.
Sister Margaret Mary joined the
Grand Ronde community about a
year after the SSMO group arrived,
according to Sister Ina.
The order stayed in Grand Ronde
23 years, or until 1968, when the
school closed because "enrollment
figures dropped so dramatically,"
according to Father Gregory Moys,
past president of the Oregon
Catholic Historical Society. In
1967, the school graduated seven
students. In 1968, the school
graduated four students.
Sister Mary Margaret was raised
on a farm in Hillsboro. "She knew
how to work and to can. She was a
great berry picker, the fastest in the
world," said Sister Ina.
"She was full of life," said Herron,
"and she really enjoyed the kids."