Sister Frances Mary Benisch
(Mary Cleomena)
Born to earthly life: May 2, 1912
Religious profession: July 30, 1932
Entered eternal life: September 13, 2009
May 2, 1912, marked an auspicious day for Frank Benisch and Catherine Weisensel, farmers living near Sun Prairie, because the first of their 12 children was born.
Before she was of school age, Frances spent much time with her grandfather, who lived on the outskirts of town. Frances tells that as a preschooler she once spotted two Sisters walking down the street and thought she would like to be dressed like them. The attraction lasted.
When she reached school age, her contact with the Notre Dame Sisters at Sacred Hearts School settled her determination to become a sister after eighth grade. Thinking her too young, her mother stipulated a two-year wait before entrance. That condition met, Frances surprised her mother with the letter of acceptance to an application which she had already mailed to the Candidates’ directress in the motherhouse.
In 1931 she was received into the novitiate as Sister Cleomena, with St. Clement as her patron, because her little brother, Clement, had drowned in a horse tank a month after she had entered. With bachelor and master degrees in education, Sister met the requirements for teaching at the elementary level. Her resume records a span of primary, middle, and upper grades.
An early assignment at Holy Childhood School, Harbor Springs, was, as she confessed, “the love of my life.” The experience with Native Americans in a boarding/day school setting brought out her feeling for the culturally beaten. Their plight summoned her ingenuity in raising her students’ buried self-esteem.
She determined to awaken in the children their hidden creativity. First, she engaged a Native American adult who taught her bead, quill, and birch bark work, moccasin and costume sewing. She, in turn, taught her pupils these skills. Their silent indifference soon dissolved into enthusiasm.
Through the fifty years of teaching in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan, Sister Frances Mary maintained crafts as an adjunct to classroom teaching. When she retired to Notre Dame of Elm Grove, she logically “inherited” management of the gift shop. She invited sisters to join her in cross-stitching mottos and images on plastic mesh as gift shop items. On the door jamb of the bedroom where she breathed her last, hung one of her own creations, a sister in habit and veil, and the inscription, Jesus.
– Sister Francele Sherburne
Sister Frances Mary professed her vows as a School Sister of Notre Dame in 1932. She received her Bachelor of Science in Education from Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, Wis. where she majored in education and minored in history and English. She also attended Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, Mich. for further studies.
Sister Frances Mary ministered in education for 55 years as teacher and principal. After retiring in 1985, she served through community service and by her prayers and presence.
Her ministry locations included:
- St. Ann, Milwaukee, Wis.
- St. Anthony, Milwaukee, Wis.
- St. Alphonsus, Chicago, Ill.
- Holy Childhood, Harbor Springs, Mich.
- St. Therese, Chicago, Ill.
- St. Joseph Orphanage, Green Bay, Wis.
- St. Benedict, Blue Island, Ill.
- St. Gabriel, Prairie du Chien, Wis.
- St. Henry, Watertown, Wis.
- St. Mary Incronata, Chicago, Ill.
- St. Joseph, Escanaba, Mich.
- St. Gabriel, Prairie du Chien, Wis.
- St. George, Kenosha, Wis.
- St. Peter, Beaver Dam, Wis.
- Notre Dame of DePere (St. Francis), DePere, Wis.
- Holy Cross, Milwaukee, Wis
- Notre Dame of Elm Grove, Elm Grove, Wis.
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