My Journey of Memories
The Life of “Hermana”, Sister Joan Marie Sanchez, C.S.T.

By Sister Joan Marie Sanchez with Eileen Dugan

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our series celebrating the different ways in which Oklahoma Catholics heard and answered the call to serve the Church continues as we enter the Centennial year of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

The San Luis Valley, Colorado, is nestled in the center of picturesque mountains about 200 miles south of Denver. It is an important place to me. Because on February 19, 1931, I was born there on my father’s birthday! I was the seventh child of the family; there were eight children, four boys and four girls. We moved to Denver when I was still a baby.

My entire education was a Catholic one. The Sisters of Charity, Leavenworth, Kan., staffed our school. They were very nice, but strict! They all dressed alike, I remember. My friends and I tried to guess how old each sister was, but we never found out, because the sisters’ hair never was seen under the “head gear” they had to wear in those days. It looked like a box on their heads!

After graduating from high school (Annunciation School), I informed my parents that I needed to experience some “independence” away from Denver. So, they said, “Fine! Where?” Good question! “Oh,” I said, “How about Kansas, Leavenworth, Kansas?” There were some jokes after that. I did not know that there are four prisons in Leavenworth. I soon found out!

Saint Mary College, here I come! The Sisters of Charity owned this college, and still do. Only today it is called The University of Saint Mary. These sisters had had me in grade school and high school. The sisters at Saint Mary College continued their excellent teaching and did not let their students do anything, but their best.  It was a wonderful, meaningful experience. It was a “Home away from Home”. At the end of four years, I received my B.A. degree in sociology from Saint Mary College, and several summers later, my M.A. degree in Spanish literature from Notre Dame University.  

After graduation from Saint Mary’s, I traveled to Oklahoma for four days with a friend. She wanted to go to Villa Teresa Convent to visit a sister friend. She wanted me to go with her. I went!  While there, seated next to my friend in chapel, it seemed that Saint Therese said to me, in my head, “You’re going to be here one day!” Right out loud, in the quiet chapel, I said, “I am not!” I had had no intentions of becoming a nun. I had only come to Villa Teresa to keep my friend company. God sure has strange ways to work in a vocation attraction to the religious life! I had liked what I experienced that day at Villa Teresa’s. The sisters were friendly, and everything just fell into place for me. About two months later, I applied to the Sisters of St. Therese in Oklahoma City, and on July 16, 1953, I entered the Carmelite Community. Saint Therese had been right: I was back there to stay, at least for the time being.

The General Superior gave me the name, “Sister Carmen”. So, as a postulant, “Sister Carmen” was what I was called for the first six months. The day I received the white veil as a novice, the Superior General again gave me a new name, “Sister Assumpta Teresa”. My goodness, I thought, how many more new names will I receive?  I was teaching 25 first graders as a novice, and one mother asked me if my name was Sister “Sometha”? I replied, “No. But it is pretty close to ‘Assumpta’, isn’t it?”  About this time, the Pope suggested that religious sisters could have the option of returning to their baptismal names if they wished to do so. This was to stress the importance of the sacrament of Baptism. So, in 1964, I chose to keep my baptismal name, “Joan Marie”.

For two years, I taught at our Villa Teresa School. Then, I leaped from teaching first grade to teaching at Catholic High School. Not only that, the school changed its name to Bishop McGuinness High School, and there was another name change for me. I taught Spanish at McGuinness, so the students began calling me “Hermana”, which means “Sister” in Spanish.

I taught at McGuinness for 24 challenging, mostly happy, years. For the first four years, I had 50 students in each class: Spanish I and II. Each day I had five classes to teach. The students, for the most part, came to school to learn and not to clown around. I really believe that their behavior in school was due to the discipline they received at home. Thanks parents!

After teaching 24 years at McGuinness, I applied to teach at Saint Mary College, my “alma mater”, in Leavenworth. I taught 32 professors Conversational Spanish at night. During the day, for eight hours each day, I taught at the state prison, maximum security, in Lansing, Kansas, two miles from the College. We always referred to the prisoners as “Gentlemen”. And they were “Gentlemen”, for the most part.  When I had applied to teach at Saint Mary College, I did not know that I had indirectly signed up to teach at the state prison. I found out, quite soon, that it was Saint Mary’s responsibility to supply teachers to the prison. I was to be one of them. This would be a big challenge. The first two days, I was scared. On the third day, I calmed down after hearing the following conversation between two inmates: “Hey, man,” said one gentleman to his tutor, “I ain’t got time to learn this math!” The other man responded, “Hey, you got to spend six years here. You got plenty of time!” My, a bit of humor even in prison, I thought to myself. For the rest of that day, and year, my fear ended.

When I told the prisoners that I was leaving, they got permission from the warden to give me a “going away” party. They even had two prisoners make me a gift: a genuine-leather clutch purse, engraved with two praying hands and my name, “Joan”. I was really surprised. A large poster-board card was made for me, and all the inmates signed it. It was quite a “send off”.

Returning to Oklahoma, I began several new ministries. For a year, I taught Spanish, half the day, at Saint Mary High School, and, for the other half, I was involved in social ministries at Sacred Heart Parish. Then, I enrolled in an ESL (English as a Second Language) class in order to learn how to teach ESL. At night, twice weekly, I taught ESL for the public school, at the Capitol Hill library. The program was for adults only. I admired these adults who wanted to learn English and made the time to spend their evenings going to school, after working all day. I was employed by the public-school system for six years. My seven-and-a-half months in Guatemala, teaching Mayan children, was fascinating. The children were eager to learn the Spanish language, which they didn’t know, because they spoke a dialect. I spent another year in Frederick, Oklahoma, in pastoral ministry. Visiting the residents of a nursing home was a calm experience. During the week, in the evenings, I taught CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) in small towns not far from Frederick. For two years, in the summer, I took McGuinness students to Europe. During four spring breaks, I took several groups of students from McGuinness to Mexico.  The most illustrious student I ever taught was Archbishop Salatka. He had a real foreign language “gift”. I taught him privately, at the convent in the evenings, after his busy day at his office. In spite of his title “Archbishop”, our class was very ordinary.

In 1978, while teaching at McGuinness, I was chosen “teacher of the year”. Actually, it was called “The Archdiocesan Award of the Year”. I was one of three teachers to receive a medal that year. What was wonderful was that we were all good friends and taught in different Catholic schools.

My greatest honor, though, was to receive the “gift” of a religious vocation! As a child and in my early teens, I was a tomboy. Climbing trees and shooting marbles and rubber guns their was no indication, that I would be a candidate for the religious life. But, as the saying goes, “Nothing is impossible for God!”

The stroke I had in 2002, on September 25, really turned my active life around! The 45 days in the Bone and Joint Hospital, followed by another 45 days in the Manor Care Nursing Home, were a cross for me! With the grace of God, I survived! I graduated, step-by-step, from not being able to move out of bed, to learning how to get into a wheelchair, to using a walker. Now, periodically, I use a cane when outdoors. God is good!

As a retired sister, I volunteer to answer the telephone and door bell, and help out in the kitchen. I enjoy decorating the dining room tables for special holidays, especially during the Christmas season. Decorating has become my unofficial ministry!  I have a “field day” decorating the staircase and the parlors.

On a tea mug, I once read the phrase, “Distance is never too far for friends”, and I truly believe this. I continue to receive telephone calls, letters, and visits from some of my past students. Today, they are some of my dearest friends.  Many of my former students have sent me wedding invitations, and, yes, I have also attended some of their funerals. A teacher-student relationship is “special”!