Funeral Reflection for Sister Gerard Wald
Sister Nicole Kunze, Prioress
January 4, 2025
We gather as a faith community today to celebrate the life of Sister Gerard. We extend our sympathy to Sister Gerard’s many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. You were all special to her and we are especially grateful for the love and care you have shown her throughout her time with cancer. I also welcome Sister Gerard’s friends and acquaintances from the University of Mary, St. Alexius, and the diocese. We sisters thank all of you for your prayers and support for us.
On Sister Gerard’s memorial card, we used a verse from the prologue of the Rule of Saint Benedict – Run while you have the light of life. That brief phrase encapsulates Sister Gerard’s philosophy of life. I want to use the words Run, Light, and Life to highlight various parts of Sister Gerard’s life.
RUN – Gerard was always moving, always doing something. Each morning around 5:00 a.m., for more years than I can count, she started her day with some type of physical activity. Since the 1990s, she has been an active user of the university’s fitness center. I believe her exercise ritual helped her beat her first bout of cancer. After her summer brain surgery, she did get back on the treadmill here at the monastery, much to the surprise of her doctor, a few times.
Running also describes Sister Gerard’s active life of serving others. She was the advisor for the SPURS club at the university for over 30 years. That was how I first became acquainted with Gerard. Through her leadership of the university’s student volunteer program, she connected students and staff with a variety of agencies in our area. She spearheaded the monastery’s annual hosting of a meal at The Banquet for many years.
During my college years and first years in community, while serving full-time at the University of Mary, Sister Gerard worked several shifts each month as a nurse in the telemetry unit at St. Alexius. She seemed most satisfied and fulfilled when she was busy, but she also knew how to rest. We knew where we could find her most Saturday or Sunday afternoons – taking a nap in her bedroom. She regularly spent a day down at our trailer below the hill, taking a break from her work to relax, read and snooze a bit.
LIGHT – Sister Gerard’s light was the way she welcomed every person she encountered. By far, her example of hospitality was the most mentioned trait in the Facebook posts I’ve read since her passing. As one person noted, Sister Gerard never met a stranger. She reached out to the young and the old, to the familiar and the stranger. As someone who grew up in the Napoleon area, she seemed to know everyone in a 50-mile radius of there.
Gerard was one of the main party organizers at the monastery, even throwing her own birthday party more than once. She inherited the Friday night popcorn hosting role and upgraded the offerings – pop, licorice and kettle corn. The most recent party she couldn’t stop talking about was the 60th jubilee party hosted by the Meiers’ at their farm near Steele this past summer. Gathering with family was a constant in Gerard’s life. She was proud to be the “matriarch” of the Wald family as the last living sibling. Gerard’s love of taking photos at parties is evident if you saw the number of photo albums in her bedroom. She chronicled all of our Sisters’ Choir parties over the years.
Playing games was one way Sister Gerard interacted with others. Card games, particularly pinochle, were her favorite. She initiated the first “Game Nights” at the monastery for university students. She loved playing Scrabble, but you had to use 9 tiles rather than 7. It gave you better words. In recent years, she would play Scrabble by herself – right hand versus left hand.
LIFE – One characteristic of Sister Gerard’s that always impressed me was her love of learning. She kept up with reading a variety of articles and journals pertaining to sponsorship, Catholic healthcare, Catholic education, theology, and spirituality. I struggle to do it and always admired the way she made time to do it.
When she entered our community, she had only completed eighth grade. As I remember the story, Gerard was asked to drive a Sister to a school so that sister could take her GED test. Sister Kathryn or Sister Jane said to Gerard, if you’re going to take Sister to that school, you might as well take the test, too, because you can pass it without studying. That was the beginning of Gerard’s pursuit of education. Sister Brigid encouraged her to attend college full-time and she did, completing her bachelor's degree in nursing at Mary College. She later completed three master’s degrees – in nursing, management and pastoral ministry. She held an active (current) nursing license until last year.
Sister Gerard was proud to have served on the St. Alexius Medical Center Board of Directors for many years. She was instrumental in leading our community’s work on developing our ministry of sponsorship and the formation program we implemented at our sponsored ministries.
Throughout her life, Sister Gerard energetically ran, sharing her light and joy of life everywhere she went and with whomever she met. She lived a full and faithful life in our Benedictine community for 60 years. Thank you, Sister Gerard, for sharing your life with all of us. We are grateful for the gift you have been to us. We will miss your presence among us. May you now share in the glory of God with the saints in heaven.
