August 12, 1914 – July 6, 2014
Sister Marie Hoelle's life started on the family farm outside of Hamilton, Ohio. She was the youngest of nine children, and the only daughter. When she was nine her father placed the farm in the care of her oldest brother and retired. Mr. and Mrs. Hoelle, their youngest son and Marie moved closer to the city where the two children were enrolled at St. Mary's School. It was there that Marie met the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the idea of a vocation to religious life began to take root. As Marie said, “I was impressed by their spirit of love and genuine interest in us as students. Their simplicity and singleness of purpose in instilling in us true Christian values, and in encouraging us to be the persons God wanted us to be....” In spite of a marriage proposal, questions on the part of family and friends, and a four-year scholarship to the College of Mount Saint Joseph, Marie entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1932 and received the name Sister James Marie.
Sister Marie spent 37 years as a classroom teacher in schools throughout the Ohio Province. As a teacher she was described as “quiet, easy-going” and “motherly” with the students. She left the classroom to help adults earn their General Education Degrees, coordinated a parish CCD program and began giving music lessons in schools and to private students. Sister Marie nourished the seeds of faith wherever she found them: as a Eucharistic Minister in parishes where she lived, through organizing days of recollection for Senior Citizens, through volunteer service with the VFW and at area nursing homes, and through her work with the Marianist Family of Mary program that she became involved in through her brother, Father Phil Hoelle SM. She enjoyed helping people of all ages find and develop their God-given talents. She appreciated getting to know the families of her students, and when private lessons took her into the homes of students she welcomed relationships with all the family members she encountered.
Sister Marie enjoyed time spent with her family, reading, writing, driving and discovering new routes to locations. In community Sister Marie enjoyed one-to-one time with her Sisters. She loved good conversation, interesting discussions, working crossword puzzles with others, good music and participating in the Province Choir. She shared her gifts with the community as cook, seamstress, sacristan, receptionist, librarian, organist for community worship, and as a woman of prayer focused on the intentions of her Sisters and the people they ministered to and with—especially those trapped in poverty.
Asked to write about her life as a religious for a parish newsletter, Sister Marie used the image of a dance: “There were new and surprising steps to learn, all kinds of dances, but my master-Partner was always there for me....When I faltered, He steadied me. When out-of-step, he gently guided me back into the rhythm....Line-dancing to the tune of “Come, follow Me”, as long as I could keep my eye on the Master and flow with the melody of love, I trusted that God would lead to a Grand Finale. This special call that I recall came with a promise too: a hundredfold in this life and an eternal reward in the next. All of you who have journeyed with me and accompanied my dance with the music of your lives, know that you are part of that hundredfold for which I will ever be grateful.”
The “Grand Finale” came as Sister Marie was surrounded by Sisters and friends praying “Come, Holy Spirit.” Her family, friends and Sisters give thanks for her fidelity to the dance, for the gift of her long life so joyfully joyfully shared with so many. God is indeed very good.
Bio Data
Born August 12, 1914 at Hamilton, Ohio
Parents: J. Jacob Hoelle (b. Hamilton) and M. A. Hogan (b. Hamilton)
Siblings: eight older brothers
Baptized August 30, 1914 at the Church of the Blessed Virgin, Hamilton, Ohio
Educated by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur at St. Mary's School and Notre Dame High School, Hamilton, Ohio
Entered Notre Dame October 2, 1932 at the Summit
First Profession: March 31, 1935
Final Vows: August 13, 1940
Bachelor of Science in Education, Athenaeum of Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio 1947
Master of Education, Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio 1967
Assignments Included
1936-1938: St. Peter Canisius School, Chicago, Illinois
1938-1942: St. John School, Logan, Ohio – teacher
1942-1944: Immaculate Conception School, Dayton, Ohio
1944-1947: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School, Reading, Ohio
1947-1948: St. Xavier School, Cincinnati, Ohio
1948-1950: Holy Angels School, Cincinnati, Ohio
1950-1953: Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, Glendale, Arizona
1953-1955: St. Stephen School, Hamilton, Ohio
1955-1957: St. James School, Dayton, Ohio
1957-1958: St. Agnes School, Dayton, Ohio
1958-1959: Holy Family School, Dayton, Ohio
1959-1960: Guidance Clinic, Columbus, Ohio
1960-1965: St. George School, Cincinnati, Ohio
1965-1966: Holy Trinity School, Dayton, Ohio
1966-1968: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School, Reading, Ohio
1968-1970: St. Joseph Academy, Columbus, Ohio
1970-1973: St. Agnes School, Columbus, Ohio
1973-1977: Notre Dame Education Center GED program/St. Stephen School, Hamilton, Ohio Coordinator of CCD program
1977-1981: Notre Dame Education Center, piano Lessons: Queen of Peace School, Hamilton & Private
1980-1989 Notre Dame Education Center Hamilton, piano lessons (Queen of Peace & St. Joseph schools and private) & organist at Mercy Hospital
1989-2001: Sts. Peter and Paul, Reading, Ohio – private piano lessons
2001-present: Mount Notre Dame Health Center, Reading Ohio – ministry of prayer
Sr. Kim Dalgarn SNDdeN
July 6, 2014