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Bernardine Leiker OPA |
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May 20, 1928 ~ October 21, 2008 By Sister Elaine Osborne OP A few months before her death, Sisters Jolene Geier and Kathy Goetz, (current Associate Director) celebrated Bernardine’s 80th birthday with her at Great Bend Health and Rehabilitation Center where she spent her last years. Her 80 years were full and fulfilling. “Servant” could have been her middle name. In her active years, she had ministered as lector, usher, and Eucharistic minister. She was in the adult choir, Daughters of Isabella, Altar Society, Christian mothers, and Central Kansas Medical Center Auxiliary. She taught in the RCIA program and took Communion to shut-ins. Her most unusual work was probably helping in a funeral home, especially by typing funeral books. In all this life of service she was ever faithful to her personal spiritual life – she was in Bible classes and associate gatherings, prayed Christian Prayer and the Rosary daily, loved Benediction and the Stations of the Cross. Until October 28, 1984 she was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis. On that day she became an Associate of our Community and began a faithful support of the associate program, our mission in Nigeria, and the Rosary Shrine. She loved her life as wife, mother, and grandmother. She and her husband Richard, who preceded her in death, had three daughters, a son, seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. She delighted in visiting her grandchildren on Grandparents Day at school where she says she was “amazed at the reading level of the students.” She found time for workouts at the gym, and loved walking and reading. She is remembered by many as an impressive woman, sustained by prayer, generous with her time, and devoted to her faith and her family. |
