Little Flower School: Rugby - 60 Years So Far
Little Flower School and Convent were a dream of Msgr. Nicholas T. Cloos from his arrival in Rugby in 1936. In 1941 a salesman came to the rectory
wanting to sell materials he was salvaging from a school in the expanding iron ore region of northern Minnesota. With the encouragement of Bishop Aloisius
Muench, the entire building was purchased and moved to Rugby. Having served as assistant pastor of St. Philip's in Hankinson in 1930-31, he came to like
our Franciscan Sisters and asked Mother Polycarpa to send Sisters to Rugby ten years later when the reality of the new school was confirmed. On the Feast of
the Triumph of the Cross, September 14, 1942, the doors opened for 156 pupils and the faculty of five Sisters: Sister Cornelia Steinhauser (Superior and
teacher of grades 7 & 8), Sister Miriam (Engeltraud) Gutbrod (grade 1), Sister Elizabeth Klein (grades 3 & 4, and music), Sister Richarda Huber (Sacristan
and housekeeper), Sister Gertrude Schmidt (grades 5 & 6), and Sister Helen Terfehr (grade 2).
For the first six weeks three Sisters were housed by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Volk, Sr. and two slept in spare quarters of the large rectory. There was much to
do before the Sisters could move into their quarters, so after a full day of teaching they scraped, scrubbed, painted and cleaned night after night. Finally on the
Franciscan feast of Saint Elizabeth, November 17, 1942, they could move into their convent floor on the first level of the school, where they would remain for
seven years. In 1949 the parish purchased and renovated the home across the street from the school to make room for more Sisters. Again the Sisters sanded,
scraped and painted until on October 8, 1949, when they moved into the convent, which had been furnished by women of the parish. Two days later, October
10, the first Mass was offered in Little Flower Convent. By God's providence this convent has housed our Sisters ever since.
Over the years the Sisters have served in more areas than teaching: parish council, school board, CYO and youth programs, religious education, sacristan,
liturgical music and choir, Church Renewal weekends, children's Christmas Eve Mass, Catholic Daughters, Right to Life, Search, Cursillo, Life in the Spirit
seminars, local retreats and prayer groups, First Eucharist and Penance workshops for the parents, Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers, vacation schools, fall
suppers, school fundraisers ... all with a Franciscan attitude of joyful service to His people.
Currently the Little Flower Convent community is made up of two Sisters. Sister Genevieve, who has been at Little Flower since 1981, and who served
there in earlier years as well, is the local superior; she now tutors full time at the school since her retirement from classroom teaching in 1999 and teaches the
CCD First Communion class and daily teaches Religion in some classes. She also is the sacristan at the parish, is very active in spiritual direction in the local
area Cursillo and Life in the Spirit programs, and in the parish prayer group. Weekly she visits the sick at the hospital and long term care center. In the
summers she continues to teach Vacation School. On the provincial level, she serves our religious community on the Renewal Committee, which plans and
facilitates our community meetings.
Sister Jean Louise, who was assigned to Little Flower as librarian for the school in 2000, also serves on the provincial level as our vocation directress. This
takes her to many parish and diocesan youth events, and into contact with youth and speakers at the national level through spiritual programs brought to our
diocese, such as Youth 2000 and YMI. Locally she teaches the Confirmation class, serves as the spiritual director for the CYO, is a member of the Catholic
Daughters of the Americas, and still helps with the Search program in both dioceses of North Dakota. Summers are particularly busy for Sister, directing
Youth Mission for the Immaculata (YMI) week, offering a Come & See experience at SFC in Hankinson, teaching vacation schools and catechizing at Trinity
Youth Camps.
(Reprinted from Hankinson Franciscans News & Review , Summer 2003.
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