Sister Helen Lange, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Florida, was remembered last week at two masses at Holy Name Monastery, in St. Leo, and at a reception at St. Anthony Parish Hall.
She was 105 at the time of her death.
Sister Helen, formerly known as Laurina Lange, was still a teenager when she traveled by train from Texas to Florida to pursue the religious life, according to a memoir she wrote, called “Kicking the Habit.”
The year was 1930, and she was accompanied by four of her cousins — Irma Multer, Pauline Block, and Rosaria and Rosanna Matthiesen, who also had decided to answer God’s call.
In her memoir, Sister Helen described growing up on a farm in Olfen, Texas.
She grew up in a family that prayed often, enjoyed making music, and had frequent gatherings with friends and relatives, the account says.
She enjoyed shopping days with her mother. Once the necessary household items were purchased, she and her mother would stop by the drugstore for an ice cream soda, which only cost 25 cents back then, the account adds.
Easter season was one of her favorite times of the year.
“Holy Week was truly Holy Week. There were no radios, no running around, no dancing or partying,” her memoir says.
“On Holy Saturday, all of us kids were sent out to pick flowers to build Easter nests for the bunny to come. While we were out hunting the flowers, little did we know that mom was busy dying the eggs — which we never saw until Easter morning.
“We made small nests with the wildflowers we picked out in the fields.
“On Easter Sunday morning, we all tumbled out of bed to see what the Easter bunny had brought. There were eggs of all colors neatly laying in our nest of flowers. What a beautiful day!”
Over the years, Sister Helen would be a teacher, a band director and a principal. She would oversee a hostel for visitors from other countries. And, later, she would work in elder care.
She also moved around quite a bit. Her first assignment took her back to Texas, but she also worked in New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana, and in various parts of Florida, including San Antonio, Venice, Sarasota, North Miami, Ocala and Jacksonville Beach.
Most recently, she was living at Heritage Park Health and Rehabilitation Center in Dade City.
That’s where Sister Helen celebrated her 105th birthday on Sept. 28, surrounded by 75 guests.
Besides other sisters from her community, guests included friends and relatives. Sister Helen’s cousin, Joan Schmidt, from Brandon, was there, as well as her niece, Monica “Shotsie” Keyes, who traveled from Salem, Virginia, and Keyes’ daughter, Stefanie Martin.
In a 2016 interview with The Laker/Lutz News, Sister Helen said one of the hardest things she had to do during her religious life was to leave one assignment for the next, because she had always developed deep attachments to the people where she was.
But then, she said, she’d form new attachments in her next assignment.
Ultimately, she wound up loving each of her assignments, whether she was teaching kindergarten or sixth grade, or working as a principal.
“The sixth grade was the most joyful. There were a lot of boys in the class. I loved teaching boys,” said the nun, who described herself as a tomboy at heart.
During that Laker/Lutz News interview, which occurred when she was 102, Sister Helen said she had “no regrets” about boarding that train to go join the Benedictine Sisters of Florida — to follow her spiritual call where it led her.
“I’d do it all over again,” Sister Helen said.
Donations in honor of Sister Helen may be made to the Benedictine Sisters of Florida, P.O. Box 2450, St. Leo, FL 33574-2450.
Published March 27, 2019
