In Memory

From her earliest years in Community, even to her passing into eternal life, Sister Concepta was aware of a call, not just the initial call to religious life, but the ongoing call that guided her response to the mission of the Congregation and its ministries. Like Ruth, in the Hebrew Scriptures, she knew that wherever she went, she was preceded by her Provident God.

It is fitting that as the Church prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council, Sister Camille completed her life’s journey. The Council, which explored a new way of being Church and urged religious communities to update and explore their founding charisms, shaped the last 50 years of Sister Camille’s religious life. Sister Camille was hospitalized in July with an infection. When she returned from the hospital, she told the Sisters and nurses who cared for her that she was ready to go to God.

Helen Beatrice Dimmerling was the second oldest of eight children. She was born in North Braddock, Pa., a town she dearly loved. Her parents hailed from Fulda, Ohio, but her family roots were in Fulda, Germany. Adrian was educated by our Community and, from an early age, loved learning and was determined to become a teacher. When asked many years later to share her experience of call to religious life, she related that her desire to become a Sister of Divine Providence was not from deep spiritual motives, but simply to become a teacher. She entered the Community, she said, because religious women had the best opportunity to become teachers, a vocation that was not easily accessible to women in general. It was Adrian’s deep love for learning that later drew her to an intense study of our charism and the history of the Community.