2008 - 2009 Jubilees   [Back to Jubilees & Professions]

SISTER IDA MAE FUCHS
A Golden Jubilee Story ~ August 16, 2008

LOOK AT photos from this event.
 

"I am grateful to my community for their support and love over these many years."
~ Sister Ida Mae Fuchs

I was born in Uniontown, Washington in 1933 and baptized at St. Boniface Church. I grew up in De Smet among the Coeur d’Alene tribe. There were 5 girls and 6 boys in my family. I experienced the Benedictine Sisters of Cottonwood when I was in school in St. Marie’s, and I am especially grateful to Sr. Aquinas Schaecher, who helped me explore my religious vocation. I entered St. Gertrude’s in 1954.

When I made my first monastic profession on June 11, 1958, I was given the name Sister Mary Martha, which fit me well since I was doing domestic work at the time. Later I ministered to the elderly and cared for the homebound. I received my Certified Nursing Assistant Certificate from the College of Southern Idaho in 1988. I also took cooking classes in order to increase my skills. Over the years I served at St. Paul’s School in Nampa, at St. Anthony’s School in Pocatello and in Lewiston, Jerome, Cottonwood and Moscow doing home health care work.

SLIDESHOW ~ Sister Ida Mae Fuchs Please enjoy the images and recollections below. (There are 11 slides in the show.)

Ministering in Blackfoot was one of the high points of my life. While I was there, I cooked for Fr. Xavier, who was from India. This gave me the new opportunity to prepare Indian cuisine. I continued to visit the homebound and I led a prayer group at the state hospital. My experiences in Blackfoot, with my ministries as well as with the local community, were life-changing and never to be forgotten.

Another high point of my life was when I traveled to Anchorage, Alaska, where I visited a reindeer farm and experienced such incredible beauty in the flowers, parks and vistas of that state. I couldn't believe I was in Alaska during the solstice...light and dark were amazing. Another delight I experienced was a visit to a chocolate making factory where they had an enormous chocolate fountain flowing as if it were water.

I now minister in the prayer and spirituality ministry at the Monastery. I enjoy meeting retreatants and I am deeply affirmed by praying for their needs.

I am grateful to my community for their support and love over these many years. I am especially grateful to God for Sister Lucille Nachtsheim who accompanied me 50 years ago from DeSmet to Cottonwood. I wouldn’t have made it without her moral support.