+Sister Eugenia Daly, OSB

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+Sister Eugenia Daly, OSB

In Loving Memory

Sister Eugenia DalySister Eugenia (Ruth Etta) Daly, OSB, 85, of St. Scholastica Monastery, died on Thursday, December 14, 2006, at St. Mary’s Medical Center. She entered the Duluth Benedictines February 10, 1945, professing monastic vows on January 13, 1947. She was in her 59th year of monastic profession. Sister Eugenia was born October 5, 1921, in Crosby, Minnesota, and attended Crosby-Ironton High School. She earned a B.S. degree in nursing from The College of St. Scholastica. She was a member of the Minnesota Nurses’ Association. Beginning in 1947, Sister Eugenia was a head nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital in Duluth until 1955. At Hibbing General Hospital, she was head nurse and night supervisor from 1955-1959, returning to St. Mary’s Hospital in the same positions from 1959-1971. She served as school nurse for The College of St. Scholastica from 1971-1972 and then returned to St. Mary’s Hospital from 1972-1991. After retiring from hospital ministry, Sister Eugenia worked for two years in the Education Department of the Duluth Federal Prison Camp, two years in the Duluth Detoxification Center, one year as a Home Health Supervisor in Duluth, and one year at St. Ann’s Residence. When she retired to St. Scholastica Monastery in 1997, she served as receptionist at the Monastery’s Information Desk and as assistant in the Transportation Office. Many commented at Sister Eugenia’s wake about her kindness toward others, exemplified particularly in the bedside care she gave patients. Her special gift of friendship netted her a sizable group of devoted friends. Another thing noted was her wit and sense of humor. Someone recalled that when she worked on the floor designated for cardiac care at St. Mary’s, she used to say, “Where did I leave my brains?” It turned out that “My Brains” was a notebook containing information about various patients and procedures. She also had a few “worldly loves,” namely playing Scrabble, reading mysteries, and picking berries. One Sister claimed that playing Scrabble with Sister Eugenia was the beginning of a twenty-year friendship. As for picking berries, she would go out in the woods for hours, armed with two pair of gloves, as well as hats, to fend off the mosquitoes. She told a grandnephew that picking berries was one of her favorite things to do in life, and she sent her family boxes of jellies she made from those berries. Sister Eugenia was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Stella Mae (Harter) Daly, her brother Miles, and her sister Agnes. Besides the Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery, she is survived by her grandnephews, Michael and James McKay, cousins, and many friends. A wake service was held on Monday, December 18, 2006, at 9:30 a.m. in Our Lady Queen of Peace Chapel, St. Scholastica Monastery, followed by the Mass of Christian burial at 11:00 a.m. with Father William Graham presiding. Burial was in Gethsemane Cemetery.

Posted in Happenings, Obituaries

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“Listen carefully, my child, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart. Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving father's advice, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.”
–St. Benedict of Nursia, The Rule of Saint Benedict