By JIM LOOMIS '80

Little did I know that that beautiful, sunny, warm September day in 1976 would impact the rest of my life. Entering Murphy Center, the sun shining up the steps behind me as I reached the second floor, I saw a young lady standing at the weekly events board.

She was different. It was as if the sunbeams had somehow turned the corner as she was radiant looking. I knew instantly she was different as a glow, an aura of unusual design, seemed to surround her.

I walked up to her and introduced myself.

“I haven’t seen you in any of my classes,” I said.

Her radiance increased, her smile overwhelming me. She chuckled and said, “Hello, I am Sister Thea, chairman of the English department, and I have not seen you in any of my classes either.”

We both laughed and chatted briefly. But I knew there would be more to know about her. There was something about her. She was unlike anyone I had ever met.

The next two years opened my eyes to a different world, not only in my studies, campus life, a pathway towards a career, but to the understanding of immense sacrifice, dedication, and success of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration since their arrival to Milwaukee in the 1850s. Their spiritual lives and values brought a new meaning to education and the value of reaching out and helping others in need. As Sr. Thea would often say, “If each of us does a little bit it will make a significant difference.”

Two years passed and Sr. Thea returned to Mississippi to care for her aging parents. Two years had allowed a friendship to grow. I had been one of her students. Her class was one never to miss as she lit up the room upon arrival with a smile that made you feel special.

Her teaching style, unlike any I had experienced, was like opening the theatre curtains each class time and looking at the works of authors and their works, not only through their words, but the time, the place, the smells of the Delta, the struggles and successes, the customs, the music and its life sustaining presence in everyday life through the works of William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, James Baldwin, and Margaret Alexander Walker.

The class ended with a weeklong journey to Mississippi, including the opportunity to meet Eudora Welty at her home and staying with Black families in Canton, where Sr. Thea grew up.

But as we all know, teaching literature was but a small part of Sr. Thea. She found beauty in everyone. Her spirit would shake an entire room, bring people together, celebrate our differences, nurture talents, boost confidence, motivate, and encourage people to follow their dreams.

Our friendship continued after she returned home. Her frequent speaking engagements found her often in Chicago, and I was fortunate to schedule my time to pick her up at the airport and take her to her guest home. As her cancer spread, her mobility limited to a wheelchair, her body in pain, she knew I would move her like a fine fragile piece of porcelain to avoid further discomfort. But I knew her pain.

One evening before receiving an honor at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, she was resting before her speaking engagement. Just before wheeling her before the packed house, she told me she just lost vision in one eye. My heart ached. She told me the cancer had now invaded her spine and brain. She was determined to speak, sing, and graciously accept the honor. I could see her pain and quickly helped her return to the guest home afterward.

We remained in close contact even after she no longer could travel. We talked often, and I visited her several times and always she was grateful for our friendship. She never complained about her condition and continued to share her story from her bed when she was too weak to leave it, with friends wall to wall with her.

In closing, I still feel the sadness from her death, but balance it with the many gifts I received from her friendship and try to share her story. I don’t have a friend who doesn’t know her as she has always been a powerful force in my life. Her story is even more important today as we see our world becoming more divided and attempts to turn back the clock.

May this gift help spread her words to others and make this world a better place.