00:01 Interviewer- Hello this is Kelsey Westcott introducing Sister Germaine Lichtle at the

Transcription

1 Interview Narrator: Sister Germaine Lichtle, Congregation of St. Agnes Interviewed By: Kelsey Westcott Location of Interview: St. Agnes Convent, Fond du Lac Date of interview: May 5 th, :01 Interviewer- Hello this is Kelsey Westcott introducing Sister Germaine Lichtle at the Sisters of St. Agnes Convent in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on May 5 th. Hi Sister Germaine, how are you today? 00:15 Sister I am fine today. 00:17 Interviewer- Oh that s great! It s such a, it was a lovely day, and now it s, kinda, rainy out. So, we are gonna go on with the interview. And what name do you go by? 00:29 Sister Actually, Sister Germaine. My former name was Mary Helen but we had two Mary Helens already. I did not want to be a third one. 00:47 Interviewer- Really? In your family or with the Sisters? 00:50 Sister With the Sisters. 00:52 Interviewer- Oh, ok and was that your baptismal name? 00:56 Sister Yes it was, my baptismal name. 01:02 Interviewer- And was that your religious name too? 01:04 Sister No, I took um, because so many things happened in the family. We lost parents, um my oldest brother and my oldest sister Margaret, Adrian, and Francis were just in their teens when we lost both parents. Daddy died when, he was married before he married my mother, to, um, a Malley, and we have two sisters by the name of Malley. And their dad was a brother to my dad s first wife. 01:50 Interviewer- Ah, ok. 01:51 Sister At one year after marriage, she gave birth to a son. Two days after she had to have surgery and she died three days later at the age of 30 years, only. Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 1

2 02:10 Interviewer- Oh, so young 02:11 Sister So young is right. Then my, dad married my mother and there were the three, teenage people. Daddy died when I was 4 and my younger sister was 2. And mother died just two years and one month after and I was 6 and my sister was only 4 years old. And one of her last worries was what was going to happen to her two little ones but it was amazing. My sister was going with two fellows. 02:57 Interviewer- Oh boy! 02:58 Sister Alright, a Leonard and a Clarence. And mother in her delirium said, Margaret, I do not want to tell you what to do, but you re going with Leonard and you re going with Clarence. I sure like Clarence better than Leonard. 03:19 Interviewer- [Chuckles] 03:20 Sister Leonard was standing right at the foot of the bed and did that with my sister, almost a month after mother was admitted to the hospital and it was strange because daddy died at home we were sent upstairs that night to go to bed and brought down and stood on the kitchen table and were dressed and we were told that daddy had died that night. And at that time they still laid out the corpses in the home and we had just like a little alcove right off the parlor and daddy was laid out in the parlor. We were too small to go to the funeral but we watched it all the way from across at the neighbors. Then when mother went to the hospital I remember that night because my sister Margaret said, I have the strangest feeling that she is never coming back to us alive. So she was in the hospital for one month, developed pneumonia, and it was the pneumonia that took her two years and one month after daddy had died. 04:45 Interviewer- Wow. Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 2

3 04:46 Sister It- 04:47 Interviewer- And you said you were six years old, when your mom died- 04:49 Sister I was six years old, I was in the first grade when they came to school to get me, from school. And I remember it so well and again mother was laid out at home in the little alcove. And it s funny, I remember funny things too, but good things. 05:10 Interviewer- Yeah. 05:11 Sister Between her legs her dress, she wanted a wave, her hair waved and it was nicely waved, she had a beautiful dress on, but it was always falling between her legs. Finally we stuck a newspaper under there [Laughs] to keep it from [Laughs] you know going, but those are the beautiful memories we had. So for about six months my one aunt came to help us out ever so often, but my brothers and sisters were at the age where they needed to get direction to their life too. So our grandparents, maternal grandparents, took the two of us for about three years. And each one of the others, my dad owned a meat market and each one of the others, once Margaret stayed with my cousin and worked at the GE, my brother Adrian, stayed with my uncle and aunt on mother s side and Francis stayed with dad s partner in business. Then that was for about 3 years and then, my grandmother was one of those people behind the scenes that never said much, but the total control was perfect. And once she died, it was, not good. And so between Christmas and New Year s, when um... I was in the fourth grade I remember it, we were taken from our grandparent s home and taken down to my oldest sister and her husband, Margaret and Leonard. And every single light in the house was out except for the Christmas tree lights and then our Christmas was laid out on a maroon couch. Can never forget that, we broke at that point. Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 3

4 But, the reason why I didn t take a family name was because there was so much that different parts of the family had done for us, you couldn t be impartial, it was just very hard, but I always loved the Little French Shepherd of St. Germaine. And she was very very abused by her stepmother and so that was a name that could be taken for a reason, but without partiality. 08:01 Interviewer- Ok. 08:02 Sister And so it s, it s always been you know, and I still, treasure that name in many ways, so. 08:13 Interviewer- Wow, long history with that name long history. 08:16 Sister Long history. Only se-, I was invest, I entered in 41, of course we have candidates and novitiate, that was three years. In 44, I was professed as a sister of St. Agnes and last summer, I celebrated 70 years as a Sister of St. Agnes. 08:41 Interviewer- Wow, congratulations! 08:43 Sister Was something else. Twelve of the family were here for my, uh, jubilee, twelve of the family. Then when I went home for my visit in the summer time, usually at the end of July into August, didn t my nephew and niece have a jubilee party and then my, um, niece who was in the first grade when I was a senior, celebrated her 80 th birthday and so we had a fantastic, wonderful jubilee celebration. I count my blessings every day, every single day because in spite of all things, our family is very close. Closely related and appreciated each other very much. 09:48 Interviewer- You are cl-, sounds like you really are close. Now, where is home for you? 09:53 Sister Home is Decatur, Indiana, which is twenty miles south of Fort Wayne. 10:01 Interviewer- And were you born there too? Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 4

5 10:03 Sister I was born in Decatur, Indiana, that s right. 10:06 Interviewer- And how often do you go visit home? 10:08 Sister I usually go once a year unless there is something coming up as a tragedy in the family, which happened with my nephew. But normally we have so many birthdays at the beginning of August so I chose that day usually from about the 31 st of July til about the 10 th or 11 th of August and we catch everybody and everything in those days. I can be coming in to the airport in Fort Wayne, my niece or nephew or somebody is there to pick me up. We go home and within an hour, the whole part of the family is there to celebrate and have supper together and we do that so often it s just precious. 11:07 Interviewer- Oh that is wonderful. So, seeing as you guys a very close-knit family, are you Catholic as well your whole family? 11:15 Sister Our whole family is Catholic, uh we had a number of converts within the family. 11:22 Interviewer- Ah, how many converts would say in the family? 11:23 Sister I would say about 3. 11:26 Interviewer- Three? Wow 11:27 Sister Mhmm. 11:28 Interviewer- And is there anyone else in your family, um who became sisters or other clergy? 11:34 Sister No, not that I know of. 11:40 Interviewer- Ok so ho-, I think you already answered this but how long have you been a sister? Can you break that down again? 11:51 Sister Um, 70 years, I taught 2 years in New Haven, Indiana, then I went to Kansas, 2 years in Catherine Kansas, 3 years in Victoria, Kansas, and 4 years in Hays, Kansas and Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 5

6 that totaled 11 years in elementary ed. Then I went into high school in Altoona, Pennsylvania. I taught in Altoona for 8 years, then went to um Beloit, Wisconsin for 10 and then um, came to the Motherhouse for 1 year and taught at the college and I was administrator at Boyle Center and that was a home for um, our retired and infirm sisters but they were able to go out and do things yet, ya know. And then um, after, then I went back to New York again and then in 89 I came here. I have been in Fond du Lac since 89, and that s 21 years. I was administrator at Boyle Center for 6 years and then from then on I have been out at the uh Springs in the learning resource center, which is for autistic learning disability students and I tutor out there at least a half day, every day. 13:36 Interviewer- Wow, you are very committed. 13:38 Sister [Laughs] 13:39 Interviewer- A lot of learning and teaching. What are like the subjects that you have taught in the past and the subjects you tutor out at the Springs? 13:47 Sister I was very much uh business oriented, business, history, English, and of course religion, so pretty well all arounded, except for upper science or upper math and those two I shy away from, but my director out at school is only 30 years old and he is excellence, so we dovetail back and forth perfectly. It s really something else. 14:23 Interviewer- That s great and since you have been involved with schools throughout your whole life, did you go to a Catholic school when you were younger? 14:32 Sister Yes, I did. We had a parish high school and you won t believe it, tuition, was, $18 a year. [Laughs] 14:41 Interviewer- Wow! Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 6

7 14:45 Sister But it was something. I had a good job before I finish high school as secretary. And what I intended to do was to um, work a year I wanted to pay off that tuition, which wasn t too bad. [Laughs] And sorta provide for a few things in the future and my brotherin-law got wind of it and went to a lawyer to find out, if my part of our family inheritance could be used for education and the answer was yes, so then I entered right after high school. 15:23 Interviewer- Wow, that was great! So when did you first consider a religious vocation for yourself? 15:32 Sister Funny. We were, my younger sister and I were walking to school a couple times and I said, You know what? I think I would like to be a sister. We were taught by sisters all through the grade and high school. I could mention every one of my teachers all the way up and down. [Chuckles]. And uh, I uh, my sister looked at me and she says, Are you crazy? Are you crazy? And then my one brother who wasn t practicing his religion at that time, sa-, uh always said, Don t encourage her, don t encourage her. But things worked out and when every obstacle is out of the way what do you do? You follow what you feel is right for you, God s plan for you. 16:24 Interviewer- And did your family support your decision? 16:31 Sister Always, always. It is just been tremendous as far as family goes. In fact they spoil me rotten. [Laughs]. 16:43 Interviewer- I would spoil you rotten too! 16:45 Sister [Laughs]. Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 7

8 16:47 Interviewer- I- if I was part of your family, I would because you are so close and that is wonderful! And when you did become a sister was there anything that surprise you about the religious life? 16:59 Sister Not anything special except, first of all you need that close relationship with God. That close relationship which gives you strength and power and brings forth what skills you have as an ordinary person and each place you move to is somewhat of a challenge and you learn from it in so many ways. And what you make of your life is a matter of choices, not a matter of accidents that happen. 17:46 Interviewer- And during your religious life, have you grown closer to God? Have you developed your relationship a lot more? 17:52 Sister Definitely. 17:53 Interviewer- How so? 17:55 Sister First thing in the morning I pop up and I say Good morning God, what s in the day, for today? What s in it for me today? Give me the courage, the strength, and what I need, the kindness or the hospitality to meet what that individual or whoever crosses my path needs today and it is something that it s never a one-sided affair, it s a mutual benefit, every single way. You learn from them in so many ways also. 18:38 Interviewer- Wonderful. Um, can you tell me a little about the community you live in? Um, do you like living with the other sisters and like what kind of place do you live in? 18:47 Sister Well, right now I am living at the Motherhouse and at the Motherhouse there are what we call eight households and in eight households each one of us has our own bedroom, our own shower, and if we an-, normally uh, we, we want the T.V. we have the T.V. uh, if we need a computer or um, printer we all-, also have that and um, really you Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 8

9 couldn t ask for more really and we are a definite family that you grow to live and love and pursue God s plan together. 19:39 Interviewer- Sound s like you keep going from family to family or and family s growing and growing. Um 20:45 Sister [Chuckles]. It definitely is. When I was in New York, I monitored the um Agnesian Auxiliary, they were um, volunteers who worked bingo every single Saturday night and they helped us to build and furnish Nazareth Heights is, that s no more longer there, but the hermitages are up on the hill now. And, when I um moved from New York into um Fond du Lac, a couple of the people whom I worked with in New York, insisted that I come down for a vacation. So that has been my perfect vacation every single year, right after Easter! 21:40 Interviewer- And where do you go for vacation? 21:41 Sister Daytona Beach, Florida! [Chuckles]. 21:44 Interviewer- Well that sounds like a nice vacation! 21:46 Sister It is, it is perfectly good! So, the first years we went um, we visited the various things like Cape Canaveral and, all of those famous places and things because Belle, who was one of the workers that I uh, still remember, her husband was still living and then we went and visited places. And gradually it has come to a few things, good friends down there and uh, back and forth, just a relaxing type of thing this past year particularly. So it, it s, I count it my perfect vacation with no special ties in any way. 22:36 Interviewer- Wow, um, I wanna take you back to when you became a sister, um, when did you take your final vows? Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 9

10 22:46 Sister Final vows would have been six years after that would have been 41. We, we, we normally review, renew uh, or we make our first vows for three years, then we review singly each year of the next three, so that would be 50, probably, in 1950 final. 23:14 Interviewer- And that was with the Sisters of St. Agnes? 23:16 Sister Yeah, right. 23:17 Interviewer- Um, did you look at any other communities before choosing? 23:21 Sister Uh, um, it was very interesting uh, not before teaching, I uh, I was totally convinced it was to the Sisters of St Agnes. But one of the most interesting things when I taught in Altoona Pennsylvania eight religious orders taught at the high school. 23:47 Interviewer- Eight? How did that work? 23:48 Sister [Laughs]. It worked perfectly! Some had the library and the English department, some had the science department, some had the religion department. They worked pretty well by departments. And it s very interesting because our present sister, Leona Armstrong was secretary to the principle there at that time, and it was funny because each one of them was sort of trying to catch her, ya know to join them. [Chuckles]. One day, it s so funny, all of a sudden over the loud speaker came, the principle and he says, For some reason or other I seem to have lost my perfectly good secretary. [Chuckles]. She was down with me. [Chuckles]. 24:42 Interviewer- [Chuckles]. 24:45 Sister And somehow she told me that morning that uh, she really was considering entering our order, you know and everything, so she went back and I just let her get settled and everything else and then later in the day I went in to the principle and I said, Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 10

11 Your perfectly good secretary was down with me and I think she has something important to tell you. You know, and it was just, you know, something else. 25:17 Interviewer- And just to clarify, was that after you became a sister and you were talking with her or was that before? 25:24 Sister No, no, I was a sister teaching in Altoona, Pennsylvania. 25:28 Interviewer- Oh ok. 25:29 Sister Yes. 25:31 Interviewer- And, um, what exactly drew you to the Sisters of St. Agnes, was there just something or was it because you worked with them before? 25:42 Sister Well they were are teachers all the way through from grade 1 all the way through high school and we had excellent, not only teachers but people who represented what of true religious should be and how they should be so helpful to others. So i-, it was sort of a back and forth mutual, learning that you came out with and somehow you grew with each experience, so. 26:20 Interviewer- Nice Is there anything else you would like to share about the process of your discernment? 26:32 Sister Somehow when every obstacle was out of the way and there was no reason why I should not answer the call I, I don t think I ever regretted a single minute. Never regretted a single minute And I think even to this day, um, the family is, the same way with me and things like that. And uh, I count my blessings every single day. There s just, you have to. [Chuckle]. There s just no way you can ever pay back adequately, but I think God asks of each of us is do your best, make your decisions with my help, and somehow, your, my plan for you sill work out. And I always felt that way. Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 11

12 27:41 Interviewer- Um, now, say you didn t become a sister, what do think you would have done, would you have stayed with your job as a secretary? 27:51 Sister I could have, I probably would have married, you know and have a family you know things like that and you know when it comes down to, to it, no matter which vocation you follow. Um, the basic issues of following his plan for you is the most important thing. Build a beautiful connection with our, the Trinity: God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Let that be guiding light in your life and then do whatever is needed no matter what, where, when. And and somehow you, you come out each day counting your blessings and thanking God for the day and the time he has given. And I can actually say to for the help he has given, you know, so. 29:02 Interviewer- Um, so if you were to talk with a young woman who is thinking about becoming a Sister of St. Agnes, what advice would you give her? 29:13 Sister First of all develop the proper or uh deep relationship with God the Father, we are his daughters and his family and his plan is there for us and as for the grace to listen to the plan and follow the plan as closely as you can. And always have, that higher motive in your life, that I m not doing things just for the doing, I am helping somebody in need, one way or other and that mutual reward or that peace you feel from it, is worth every minute of your life. And you count your blessings every day. 30:08 Interviewer- And what if that young woman is a little wishy-washy like hesitant to become a sister? 30:15 Sister Alright, sometimes I have had dealings with two people like that and uh, they re this way and they re that way, yes, no, I said, Wait a minute! There is a time when you need to make a decision!... Do it! If it isn t right for you somehow, God will help you Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 12

13 one way or the other to um, see that you don t, that you belong someplace else, but develop that relationship and listen to what happens or study the things that come into your life. And, if you really discern, you will be happy in the things you follow, that will be your guarantee of following the right plan. It, it is just one of those things 31:18 Interviewer- That s great advice. I was wondering if you can tell me um, more about Vatican II, since you lived through that change, um, and in your view how did Vatican II change things for women in the religious life? 31:37 Sister Um, I think we have always been very close in relationship with Vatican II. In the fact that our um sister, our, our, LCWR, our, um, hierarchy, we almost call it the hierarchy of the community, has always guided us well, in uh what is needed and they don t always make the decisions, decisions are made with advice with all of us participating, so there isn t a matter of you do this, you do that, that it, it s a matter of uh discussion and discernment from the bottom roots up and nine times ou-, uh well practically always it s um followed through like our summer days, when we have election of new officers and things like that, th-, all of those questions and things are what is discussed during those times and it s not a matter of you do this, it s a matter of our decision and whatever we re doing to find out the right thing for the community and for the individuals and that is followed through, all the way between one year or another. 32:14 Interviewer- Ok, so, now, do you see the role of um, what do you see the role of women in religious life in the 20 th century? 32:27 Sister I find them very much more able to move ahead. I think it s, it s important that they don t sit back and be quiet, but as a, as a, an-, and I feel that the building of our community and our working together by prayer and worship and those things gives us an Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 13

14 extra strength that in community our mission is to always to be there for what is the good. And, and, the decisions are made by community involving members as well as the officials. 33:24 Interviewer- And did you, uh wear the habit before Vatican II? 33:30 Sister Mhmm. 33:32 Interviewer- Um, and what did that mean to you? 33:34 Sister Um, it was beautiful I don t think I did 33:42 Interviewer- uh, you don t need to 33:44 Sister Ok, um, when they had uh the little flyer, and you ll find em probably on the stand, uh I m pictured with the original habit, and um, then there is some, who one of them I taught in the elementary grades had the revision of the habit. You know you move along with those things, you look at the signs of the times and what needs to come in, order to uh, move along with the changes of the times to. There is transformation within yourself, there is transformation within the community, there is transformation every which way and uh, I think the positive attitude is 99%. You move with what, comes, and things like that, it s, I never have been sorry for moving along with and having the positive attitude because the mutual benefit and it s very interesting because, I have a number of prayers I say every morning that when we don t say office together and a couple, one of them is especially and I think it was St. Claire said, I place the precious blood before my lips, so that every prayer I say is purified before it ascends to God. Then the next one, little prayer is Good Morning God and then um, I m trying to think of exactly how that one goes, Thank you for the gift of another day, if a shadow Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 14

15 by sorrow, give me the strength I need, if it is a blessed day, I count my blessings and thank you for them, and then let my life be one that gives from the heart and counts not from the words that come from my tongue. And then it s interesting because I have um, couple pictures of pepple, people. Father, um, Vick, was s-, the top priest in the city here of the team of priests of four at Holy Family. He, was, he went to everybody, he went to prisoners, he went to anybody everybody and was always helping. And accidently, um, he was on his bike riding one night and rather than stop, at where he could have stopped, should have stopped, he went on and killed instantly. I always have his picture with a little prayer that says, If my death is sudden, may I be as prepared as I, as he was. Then I think of Josie Kegel who was a Sister with us and left, but, after she left, um she was always so loyal and so, giving in everything she did and she suffered for about a long, long time and I say to myself, give me the strength, the courage, the charity that she lived. And then, um, Mary Galle is a lady from um, Younkers, New York may ma-, the image I leave behind me be one of happiness, laughter, and faith in God. And then I have a couple little, see with my eyes, hear with my ears you know, and couple little, but they re very special, each morning. And you know you say your official prayer for the church and the little one that set you in the right direction for the entire day and then at night count your blessings It s, it s just one of those things that give you a peace that nothing else can and you can never repay fully it s not possible. But you know that strength comes from some place and you know where from. Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 15

16 38:44 Interviewer- I, I like to take you back, um to your time teaching and your to-, tutoring here at the Springs and I m sure you ve taught a lot of students, do you still keep in touch with those students? 39:00 Sister Many of them. Huh, quite a few. [Chuckle]. A number of them from first and second grade. Number of them, couple from Altoona, couple from Beloit, New York and i-, it, it s just sort of a relationship you develop that uh, is precious And you know you just uh, you can t count your blessing often enough that s all I can say. You know and having lost parents so young, actually this year it was 86 years since daddy died, 84 since mother died. 39:46 Interviewer- Wow. 39:47 Sister And at no time, was there ever, you know, somehow we were always taken care of. And uh, I had my autobiography written for quite some time and I got to the point where I got it to the end of you know just regular teaching and things like that and uh, I said that s not, what I want to finish with, and then I found an anonymous um, uh verse and everything that says, Live a life that matters. And so what I did was like paraphrased it and then I found a Christopher prayer that says. Live in Thanksgiving and you thank God for every single thing that, and that to me was one of these day I ll need to plan my prayer, the uh, prayer service and my funeral and I probably will one of these retreats [Chuckles]. But uh, yeah, I thoroughly enjoy too, my mother they said was an excellent seamstress. And somehow, I think I got a bit of her talent and every summer I go up to the court and center where our Sisters, the infirm and the retired are and sew for them, for to-, at least two weeks or more. And that s just a wonderful, something to do and then Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 16

17 um, after that normally I make retreat and things like that and get that in between, but um, I also have time for myself to slowing down once and a while and thanking God for all that he has done. When you think of it, so many things could have gone the opposite way and they didn t 41:56 Interviewer- There probably was a reason for that and it must meant to be, but it sounds like you take your parents with you, you know they re watching you from above. 42:04 Sister Always! God and my parents are always with me. And I m waiting for the day, like I said I remember so many things about them rather than them. I m waiting for the day when we meet face to face It s, you know. 42:28 Interviewer- It ll be a wonderful day, you ll finally be reunited. 42:32 Sister Uh huh. But we have always been united as a family, you know regardless. So, something else. 42:44 Interviewer- So would you say that you re not afraid of death, but you kind of, you would embrace it when it comes? 42:51 Sister I uh, I there is always a little fear of the unknown, but with having said and trying my best, everything I don t think I have any reason not to be, ready when the time comes. And practically everything will end as what we though was important at one time, and everything else but uh, I feel God is gonna make sure that I am ready, no matter which kind of life or which kind of death comes because I, that in my remembrance every day. 43:35 Interviewer- And are you prepared to, to leave this world behind? 43:39 Sister Leave this world? Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 17

18 43:40 Interviewer- Yeah, are you prepared to leave this world like through preparation through prayers and all the good works you ve done? 43:50 Sister You do your best and that s all God asks And each thing you look at which may be a little difficult, grow in it. 44:05 Interviewer- I, I get this sense that there s a lot of, like your teaching has helped you shape your life so much. You learn from so many difficult situations and tough things to face especially death. And I was wondering, if there are any like challenges that you ve overcome in your life that teaching has helped you through? 44:31 Sister Um, now this may seem a little bit strange as, as an incident that can let you know uh, where you re sort of called to the alert. I uh, when I was, from 4 th to 8 th grade we lived with my oldest sister and her husband and then did my brother married a, marry a sister to my brother-in-law, so brother and sister, sister brother marriage. And I will never forget when I was in high school, I was living with my brother and his wife and they had a um, di-, dining room table that had [?] kind of legs. I used to hate to dust those, so I said to my sister-in-law, Oh why did you buy one like that. To stop and think we are paying $5 a week, every week on our furniture at this time yet. But there was never, never a word that we were extra, we had our wonderful good clothes, work clothes, crazy clothes and it was always love and faith in the family. What can you complain of? Why can t you be ready? It s just one of those things that I count my blessings every day. 46:09 Interviewer- Wonderful. Is there any last thoughts that you would like to share with? 46:16 Sister We never travel alone God is always with us Open your mind, open your heart to listen, what he is doing, asking for, and anything that you ask of him, he will Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 18

19 always be there, to walk with you. It s, it s just something that you can t bypass it becomes a principle of your life. And I guess I just have so many blessings to count, you know in so many ways, that uh, I m just so grateful, and I m very grateful to have had the chance to work with Kelsey. 47:14 Interviewer- Thank you very much. 47:16 Sister And you know, remember when we, I ask you, or we asked you the three virtues that we thought were important, do you remember what they were? 47:30 Interviewer- Yes. 47:31 Sister Go ahead. 47:32 Interviewer- Honesty, humbleness, I don t, ok maybe I don t know the last one. 47:36 Sister Ok, I, un-, alright, honesty, humbleness, you got me on that one right this minute, but I, I uh, know the third one an open mind, I think and a positive attitude. That s what it was. 47:51 Interviewer- And through our time together, I see those three in you and I hope that whoever watched this interview see that through your story and thank you so much for your time. 48:02 Sister And thank you so much. I guess I am just rather proud, of the things that have happened in my life and I m waiting to meet those two par-, those parents of mine [Chuckles]. Ah yeah, they were very special, how mother held us together for those two years, she worked in a glove factory that I remember, and then when she got sick, I remember that night when she went to the hospital and my sister said, I have a feeling she ll never come back. And so it happened, but so much could have happened the opposite way and didn t. God has been with it, all the way. Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 19

20 48:48 Interviewer- And I m sure, God s proud of you and your parents are proud. 48:53 Sister Mhmm. And I m waiting to see them face to face. 48:59 Interviewer- So thank you very much! Sister Germaine Lichtle (CSA) / Kelsey Westcott Fond du Lac, WI 5/5/15 20