Sister Adele Marie Rothan CSJ

A compassionate, gentle woman, an excellent teacher, a faithful friend

Wilbur and Josephine (Howeler) Rothan of Peoria, Illinois, and seven-year-old Barb welcomed Mary Jo on August 21, 1943. About two years later, baby Charlene arrived. Mary Jo attended St. Cecilia’s school and the Academy of Our Lady. Though she loved music, beginning piano lessons in first grade, she really wanted to play the organ in church. In the summer before sixth grade, Mary Jo started organ lessons.

Mary Jo entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on September 15, 1961, receiving the habit and the name Sister Adele Marie on August 6, 1962. S. Adele Marie’s first assignment, St. Joseph School in West De Pere, Wisconsin (1966), was followed by St. Mary Magdalen in St. Louis (1967). St. Thomas Aquinas High in Florissant, Missouri (1968) was next. While teaching there, she finished her degree in mathematics from Fontbonne College (1969). In 1970, she began her master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Illinois Champaign, finishing in 1971.

S. Adele taught at Fontbonne College until 1977. Then she started her doctoral studies at the University of Montana in Missoula, receiving her doctorate in mathematical statistics/computer science in 1982.

Avila College was her next assignment. S. Marie Joan Harris recalls:

I lived with Adele when she came to Avila ... She loved her years in Montana and spoke of its beauty and the joy of hiking in the mountains ... We both taught in the science and mathematics department at Avila, so I heard from faculty and students what an excellent teacher she was ... Adele spent time with her students and gently led them to success ... I will always remember Adele as a gentle person, committed to excellence both as a mathematician and as a CSJ.

The College of St. Catherine (St. Kate's) n St. Paul, Minnesota (1985), was S. Adele’s next ministry. S. Shawn Madigan remembers:

In her early years in St. Paul, Adele was a hardy cross country skier and an avid cyclist ... As heart issues loomed, her active physical enjoyments lessened. A major event in Adele’s life occurred when she accompanied her sister Barb to Haiti for a short time. [There] she saw the dire economic poverty of Haitians. Although health issues prevented Adele from returning to Haiti, she continued to raise awareness and obtain assistance for the Haiti clinic.

Two one-year sabbaticals (1994, 2003) permitted S. Adele the time to publish, take a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and, as mentioned, a medical mission to Haiti with Friends of the Children of Haiti. S. Ida Berreshim says:

She was very much impacted by her visit [there] as they brought compassionate medical care to the people of Haiti. She spoke often about those visits and treasured getting to know a little about Haitian culture, especially the neediness and poverty of the beautiful people there.

S. Adele ministered at St. Kate’s until she retired from teaching in 2012. She then donated her time assisting the archivist in St. Paul until she moved to St. Louis (2013). S. Adele volunteered as a part-time archival aide for the St. Louis province until 2018 when deteriorating health made Nazareth Living Center a better choice for her living situation.

S. Mary M. McGlone says:

Adele was a math teacher to the marrow of her bones ... She was a good organist and was one of the few sisters in recent years to give the Carondelet organ a workout. Adele was always ready to complement another—a real booster, even as she did it quietly.

Associate Debbie Gartner is eternally grateful for having S. Adele as her 2015 associate formation mentor.

Her soft spoken gentle manner led me to see compassion … through her stories, experiences and outlook on life…. [Her actions reminded me that] there are no rules, no boundaries, and no cultural taboos that should inhibit us from loving those in need.”

Sister Helen Oates