Sister Arline Eveld

(S. Robert Cecile)

Loyal, caring, dedicated

Herman and Celia (Hitpas) Eveld of St. Louis, Missouri, welcomed their daughter, Arline Gertrude, on December 7, 1930. She and two older brothers attended Saint Englebert’s Elementary School taught by the Notre Dame Sisters. After graduating from Rosati-Kain High, Arline attained a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Fontbonne College (1952). Solidifying her desire to become a religious, she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on September 15, 1952, then received the habit and the name Sister Robert Cecile on March 19, 1953.

After profession, when asked if she were willing to go to Saint Joseph Institute for the Deaf, she remembered saying, “I don’t know, sister. I’ve never seen a deaf child.” Her “yes” to that question changed her life. Following a language class that summer from Sister Rose Antonia Molloy in Chicago, and a “crash course in speech” from Sister James Lorene Hogan at the Institute, she began her life’s ministry. She earned her master’s degree in deaf education from Kent State University (1961). Teaching at the Institute included child care: bathing littles ones, putting them to bed and sleeping in the children’s dorm.

Eventually, S. Robert Cecile was asked to go on in counseling. “That was so much of our life, counseling parents, besides teaching,” she said. A student at the Teachers’ College in New York, Columbia University, she earned an extended degree (professional) in counseling. She also taught part time at Fontbonne for 24 years. Her education included certificates in various aspects of teaching/counseling.

From 1980 through 1984, she concentrated on counseling parents whose children were at the Institute. With help from a colleague, a program for infants was designed (1980). In 1997, she began offering parent/toddler services in speech and language therapy. Realizing that numerous parents, desperate for help for their deaf babies were not receiving services, she left the Institute and set up private services in St. Charles. In 2003, she began an auditory/speech/language program. In 2007, she found herself involved as a parent-child therapist and volunteering in pastoral care at Saint Joseph Health Center. Next, she was a consultant for children with hearing loss and a volunteer for communion ministry at the hospital, retiring to the Village at Nazareth in 2016.

Parents asked her to write down the information and advice that she had given them. Her first book, emphasizing oral speech, was rejected by the publisher as too controversial. A second book, A Guide for Parents of Children with Hearing Loss - Infancy through Early Childhood: a Rehabilitation Approach, was published. Sister Arline reflected:

I feel so very blessed to have been called to a mission at the Institute, and I cherish all the sisters that I worked with through the years and all of the lay staff ... we have done what we could do, and we have done it as well as we could, and so that is our heritage and that’s where it’s at.

Her family remembers:

Being very knowledgeable about family ancestry and heritage, S. Arline documented a considerable amount of valuable and interesting data about the family … After the birth of each child in our family, S. Arline sent a gift of a plaque that had a religious symbol and the name of the saint for whom our child was named … I will personally miss her more than my words can express. —Joyce, wife of brother Bob

She loved every minute of our big family gatherings … She was never overwhelmed by the chaos … she just took it all in stride and joined right in with all the games and activities … Arline packaged up special little tins of her legendary oatmeal cookies for each family at Christmastime … And, she would always choose a special inspirational book that she thought we would like. —Mary, wife of nephew Ed

Aunt Arline, to me, will always represent quiet strength in faith, reflection on one’s place and mission in the world, and genuine interest in and curiosity about people and their lives. —Christine McMullin, great-niece

By Helen Oates