April 7, 1918 — September 23, 2013
After seventy-seven years in Notre Dame houses, Sister Angela went to her Eternal Home in the early hours of the morning. Quietly, patiently and in God’s loving embrace, she is now reaping her reward with the rest of her family.
Sister Angela was born in Dayton, Ohio on April 7, 1918 of George Franks and Anna Pabst Franks. She was raised in the parish of St. Anthony and entered the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1936. She received the habit in 1937 to be known as Sister Angela of the Sacred Heart. Later she simplified her name to Sister Angela and began her ministry in various places in Ohio.
Her elementary teaching career was spent at St. Mary School, Hamilton, Ohio and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School in Reading. From 1954 to 1970 Sister Angela taught business subjects in high schools in Columbus, Ohio and Cincinnati. One of her favorite places to teach was Saint Xavier Commercial in downtown Cincinnati because she felt that she was really preparing the young women for life as well as for business careers. Many of her former students remembered her fondly across the years. From 1972 to 1999 Angela served at Mount Notre Dame, Reading as secretary to the school supervisor, secretary to the Provincial Team and the local community secretary. After 1999, she did community service and ministry of prayer.
People remember Sister Angela as being patient, both with herself and her illnesses and with others – as well as with all the circumstances in which she regularly found herself. Webster defines patience as bearing annoyance or provocation with calmness. This Angela did in a manner which was also cheerful and quiet. She could enjoy a good laugh, both at humorous stories and at herself. This quality endeared her to her Sisters and also to her younger sister, Sister Charlotte Teresa. It is easy to picture them sharing stories together even now.
Sister Angela, in her retirement years, was involved in the Adopt-A-Sister Program at Mount Notre Dame High School. The girls loved to visit her regularly and, as she wrote, they also came to visit her on their college breaks and sent her e-mails on occasion.
And, in Sister Angela’s own words: “Looking back over all these years, I realize again how much God has given me. I don’t lack for anything. In fact, He blesses me almost too much!”
Judith Wessels, SNDN
September 23, 2013