Sister Ramona Ewen, age 98, was called home by God on Sunday, June 17, 2018, in Benet Hall, in her 76th year of monastic profession. May she rejoice forever in the fullness of life with God, all the angels and saints, her family members, and Sisters of her Community.
A wake service and Morning Prayer with visitation will be held from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, in Our Lady Queen of Peace Chapel at St. Scholastica Monastery. The presider will be Father Brian Schultz. Burial will be in Gethsemane Cemetery at St. Scholastica Monastery. Arrangements are by Dougherty Funeral Home. Memorials to St. Scholastica Monastery are preferred.
Sister Ramona (Mary Elizabeth) Ewin, OSB, died on June 17, 2018 in Benet Hall of St. Scholastica Monastery. She entered the Duluth Benedictine Community on September 7, 1940 and made her Perpetual Monastic Profession on July 11, 1945. She celebrated her 75th Jubilee of Profession on August 21, 2017.
Mary Elizabeth was born in Nashwauk, Minnesota on October 11, 1919 and graduated from Nashwauk High School. Following two years at Hibbing Junior College, Sister Ramona received her B.S. in Business, with minors in English and Psychology from The College of St. Scholastica (1943) and her M.A. in Education – Curriculum Instruction from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (1954). Sister Ramona taught at St. Bridget’s Elementary School in Minneapolis, at Duluth Cathedral High School (now Marshall), served in the Business Offices at St. Mary’s Medical Center and St. Scholastica Monastery, and as an Assistant Professor of Accounting at The College of St. Scholastica. Three scholarships in her name recognize the excellent and beloved teacher that she was, as does the CSS Inspiration Award. Sister Ramona served on several hospital boards. After retirement, she was not only the accountant for Monastery Books and Gifts but contributed about 80 hand-made towels for sale per year and volunteered at the Daisy Shop in the Benedictine Living Community.
Sister Ramona was one of three Duluth Benedictines who at the behest of Pope John XXII, helped establish ties with the contemplative Benedictine Sisters at Monasterio Santa Maria de Rauten, Chile, northwest of Santiago. She visited there in January of 2000.
Sister Ramona was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers, John Melvin and Joseph James Ewen. She is survived by nieces and nephews, several cousins, her Benedictine Sisters, colleagues and many friends.