Sole Sister Last Sister In Diocese To Teach Full Time Turns Fourth-Graders Into ‘Scholars’

In pink slacks and a soft white sweater, Sister Jackie seems no different than the other teachers starting their day at Assumption Catholic School.

She greets her fourth-graders - scrubbed shiny and clad in their Catholic school uniforms - as they file into the classroom. She calls roll, asking each of the 30 if they want milk with lunch. “Yes, please” or “No, thank you,” they answer politely.

But Sister Jacqueline Welch is unique, representing the end of an era in the Catholic Diocese of Spokane.

She is the last sister teaching full time in a classroom in the diocese, which covers the eastern third of Washington.

Long gone are the heavy black habits rustling through the halls, the elbow-length veils.

Gone is the cloistered convent life.

Gone is the rule of venturing into public only in pairs.

After 41 years of working in Catholic schools, Welch has watched many of those changes and nearly 1,000 students pass through her classroom.

She doesn’t even want to talk about retiring.

“I’m thinking about slowing down, but definitely not retiring,” she said.

Parents don’t want her to leave.

“I hope she hangs in there until my first-grader makes it to fourth,” said Barbara Korsmo. “I’d hate for my youngest to miss out.

“By the time my kids got out of her class they were scholars,” she said. “She puts it all together for them. They come out confident in their ability to learn.”

Parents are stunned teaching sisters like Welch are disappearing.

“It’s a real shame that there aren’t more sisters teaching in our schools,” said Sally Piepel, whose two children were taught by Welch. “We will miss their sheer dedication.”

There are fewer sisters today, and those who do take the vows are working in social services rather than schools. It’s part of a trend that started 30 years ago, said Duane Schafer, superintendent of schools for the Spokane Diocese.

“Traditionally, the sisters have been at the core of the Catholic schools,” said Schafer. “Now, they are also looking for ministries where they can serve in unique ways.”

Barbara Keebler, a spokesman for the National Catholic Educational Association, said 90 percent of the classes in Catholic schools were taught by sisters 30 years ago.

Today, the figure is closer to nine percent.

Some Washington convents have gone years without a single new recruit. Those taking vows are sometimes in their 40s or 50s and have finished raising their families.

The numbers are expected to decline even further as young women see fewer sisters as role models in the classroom.

Welch grew up in Spokane. Her childhood classrooms at St. Anthony’s and Marycliff High School were filled with sisters. She decided on the religious life when she was in sixth grade.

“It was something I always wanted to do,” she said.

Far from viewing the holy life as one of sacrifice and deprivation, she found inspiration in an aunt who joined the convent, trained as a pharmacist and lived on the Gold Coast of South Africa.

Welch sensed excitement and opportunity.

At 17, she joined three other young women entering the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace in Bellingham.

After three years in the convent, she enrolled at Seattle University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s in curriculum and language arts.

Her first job, in 1956, was at Mt. Vernon Catholic School where she taught first grade.

“All the classrooms, except one, were run by sisters,” she said. In 1960, she taught for a year in Ketchikan, Alaska, before returning to the Northwest.

She worked as a principal and teacher at several schools, including 10 years at St. Joseph’s in Wenatchee.

“I wanted to go back to the classroom, I missed working with the kids,” she said.

After years away, she returned to Spokane, first to St. Francis Xavier, then to St. Aloysius, before settling at Assumption in the Indian Trail neighborhood. She’s taught fourth grade there for 12 years.

“There is a value system in the Catholic schools that is missing in public schools,” said Welch. “We ask ourselves and encourage students to ask: ‘Would Jesus make this choice?’ We study and live by the commandments.”

The Catholic message is prominent through the day.

Mornings start with prayers, the flag salute, and religion lessons: “Who are the apostles?” “What is another word for ‘epistle?”’ “Is ‘holy gospel’ capitalized in a sentence?”

Welch’s teaching is straightforward but kindly. She isn’t in the classroom to entertain or baby-sit. She asks questions, elicits answers, encourages independent thinking. The students know their lessons.

“I was scared when I was little, I heard she was so strict,” said Jennifer Pattee, a fourth-grader in Sister Jackie’s class. “But she is my favorite teacher so far, she is really nice.

“She doesn’t baby us, she makes us feel like big kids.”

Welch is devoted to her students.

“She is willing to do whatever it takes to help them,” said Gail Gleason, a learning center teacher at Assumption. “She has a way of making everyone accountable and setting a standard so everyone does their best.

“What is phenomenal,” added Gleason, “is even though she has been a teacher this long, she is open and willing to learn new things, like technology.”

But it’s also the old ways that make Welch and Assumption popular with parents: children are encouraged to pray. A statue of Mary stands on a table in the classroom prayer corner.

Although sisters have disappeared from the classroom, Catholic schools are thriving.

“There is a great deal of vitality in our schools right now, there is a renaissance in Catholic education nationwide,” said Keebler.

The trend is true at Assumption, where there is a waiting list for enrollment.

Many of the lay teachers now filling the classrooms were taught by sisters.

“We are challenged to build on their legacy,” said Keebler.

But for the time being, Welch isn’t going anywhere.

“I’m here because I love the kids, and I really love teaching,” she said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (2 color)

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SISTERS’ ROLES Here are the roles some of the remaining sisters fill in Spokane Catholic schools: Sister Loretta Giampietri is principal at St. Paschal’s. Sister Dolores Ann McDonald is the librarian at St. Patrick’s. Sister Kay Heberling teaches music at St. Thomas More. Sister Joan Shea is retiring from special education at St. Aloysius. Sister Norena Carr is a reading specialist at Trinity.