Sister M. Ewalda

In a small frame house in New Vienna, Iowa, lived the Gerken family happily with their eight children. On April 4, 1898, I, the ninth and youngest child, was born to them.

Our home, mother's inheritance, was the building in which mother had lived since she was four years old. In this house all her children were born. Being poor and having many children to support, my parents had no means to remodel the home until the older children were able to earn money. I, being the youngest, did not feel the poverty that the older ones did. Although poor, our family was blessed with good health.

At the age of of six, I was sent to school and attended regularly for the following eight years. Since I was healthy and lived only two blocks from school, I missed few days. Although very anxious to continue going to school, I was requested to stay home, at the age of thirteen, to help mother, who was unable to work on account of having injured her spine through a fall. The following winter, however, I again attended school until the spring of 1912, which marked the close of my schooling.

By this time all my sisters and brothers had left home, leaving me alone with father and mother. Father, being a carpenter, was gone from home nearly all week, so mother and I were left alone. This deprived me of many an enjoyment, for I could not leave mother alone, but I was happy to be with "mother."

Thus lived we happily until August 13, 1914, the memorable date when the Angel of Death knocked at our door for the first time--and in such an un-looked for manner--calling our dear father from our midst. He had left home well, in the morning, and was brought home a corpse, having met his end in an auto accident. Mother succumbed to Bright's Disease shortly after this hard trial, and died two years later.

With mother's death our home broke up. Now three brothers who were single asked me to keep house for them in Adrian, Minn., where they were engaged in work. Since I had for years desired to go to the convent, our Rev. Pastor advised me not to consent to do this, neither to enter religion that fall, but to stay with my sister until the following summer. So I stayed with my sister Irma at Adrian, Minn., planning to enter the convent the next summer. However, one more trial presented itself. In August, just the time I was to leave, my oldest sister took seriously ill and was not expected to live. Thus it was impossible for me to leave her seven little children with no one to care for them. Finally, after severe suffering, she recovered and by December was able to care for her children, no longer needing my assistance.

Thus on December 29, 1917, I took the step for which I had longed for years.

by Sister M. Ewalda

Class of 1921, of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, St. Rose Convent, La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Zita [C.] Gerken (Sister M. Ewalda), the ninth and youngest child of Henry and Anna Gerken, was born on April 4, 1898, in a small frame house in New Vienna, Iowa. The family was poor, but blessed with the heritage of the Catholic faith. [Zita's godfather was her uncle Louis Gerken. She made her first communion on June 4, 1911.]

Zita attended school regularly for eight years. After this she was obliged to stay home and help her mother, who had been disabled by an accident. Shortly after, her father was killed in an auto accident. This was a hard blow for the mother, and she died two years later. Zita was left alone. The desire to enter the convent was strong, but she was advised to wait. One trial after another came, but finally she found a way to leave home and [as a postulant] she entered St. Rose Convent [La Crosse, Wisconsin] on December 29, 1917. On July 2, 1919, she entered the Novitiate [receiving the habit] and two years later made her first profession of vows [with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration].

Gifted with talents of mind and body, she prepared herself for her life work of teaching. She was a successful teacher and a good superior.

[Sister Ewalda taught at schools in Willey and Mount Carmel in western Iowa and Richmond in southeastern Iowa. She also taught at schools in Lima, Big River, Plum City, and Athens in Wisconsin. She went to Guttenberg, Iowa, to teach in August 1953 and was there until she became ill in October 1954.]

Last spring, about six months before her death, she came to St. Francis Hospital from her mission. At that time, surgery disclosed cancer and a breast was removed. She recovered nicely and in September was able to resume her teaching duties. But in the latter part of October, pain in the leg forced her to consult the doctor at St. Francis. Rheumatism was the diagnosis. She remained at St. Francis with no noticeable alleviation. About two weeks before her death, after careful testing, the doctors decided she had cancer of the bone. During these two weeks she failed noticeable. On Sunday, December 5, at three p.m., she was anointed and within six hours, she was in a coma from which she did not rally. At 5:15 p.m., the following day [Monday, December 6, 1954], she was a corpse. The news of her death came as a shock to everyone.

Funeral services were held on Thursday, Dec. 9. Fr. Grunewald from Guttenberg with four Sisters from the mission were present for the funeral. [Sister M. Ewalda, née Zita Gerken, was buried at La Crosse, Wisconsin.]

from the convent's handwritten obituary; bracketed material was added.

Sister Ewalda and her sister-in-law Anna (Schumacher) Gerken	Sister Ewalda and an unidentified sister. This photograph was taken in the backyard at the Ewald and Anna Gerken residence, Dubuque, Iowa.

The reverse of the crucifix of Sister Ewalda's rosary, with her name engraved.

Click on this link
http://www.fspa.org/history/
to learn more about the history of the
Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
and St. Rose Convent in La Crosse, Wisconsin

Sources include Sister Ewalda's own handwritten biography of her years before entering the convent and a brief account of her life and final illness from convent records, both of which were obtained by Dolores Gerken, Sister Ewalda's niece, from St. Rose Covent in La Crosse, Wisconsin.     T.L.

© 2002, 2004 Tom Larson P.O. Box 141 Peosta, IA 52068-0141 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tdlarson/gerken/henry/srewalda/ Last revised February 15, 2004.