Benigna Weisbeck

Sister Benigna (Helen) Weisbeck, OSB, of Sacred Heart Monastery in Richardton, died November 21, at the age of 98, at Medcenter One St. Vincent?s Care Center in Bismarck. A vigil service will be held at the Monastery Sunday, November 25, at 7:00 p. m. , MST, with visitation from 2:00 to 9:00 p. m. The Mass of Christian burial will be Monday, 10:00 a. m. , MST, at the Monastery chapel, with burial following in the Monastery cemetery. Celebrant for the Mass will be Fr. David Wolf, OSB, of Assumption Abbey. Prioress Sister Ruth Fox, OSB, will preside at the monastic burial rite. Sister Benigna (Helen) was born in 1909, the oldest of nine children to John and Katherine (Gefre) Weisbeck on a farm near Hague and lived to be the oldest member of our monastic community at 98. At the age of 18 she entered the Benedictine monastery, then located at Garrison. After spending her first few years as a boarding school prefect in Fallon, Elbowoods, and Garrison, Sister Benigna was assigned to Crosby in 1940 to be the founding administrator of St. Luke?s Hospital. To help the financial condition of the fledgling hospital she started a huge garden, cared for and milked cows, raised 300 chickens every summer, and helped fire the furnace. In the 16 years at the hospital she also learned the skills of x-ray technician and bookkeeper. Later assignments placed her in supervisory roles at Sacred Heart Academy in Minot and St. Vincent?s Nursing Home in Bismarck. After three years at the Monastery in Richardton, she was again assigned to St. Luke?s Hospital, 1969-79, as superior, pay roll clerk, and x-ray technician. During these years her favorite outside activity was singing in the Northwest Chorus. Coming from a musical family in Lawrence Welk country, she never missed Welk?s weekly television show where she could sing and dance with the best. When the other Sisters retired at night, they would often hear Sister Benigna dancing in her bedroom to a recording of Welk?s ?Champagne Music. ? After her ?retirement? to the Monastery in Richardton, she quickly adapted to the needs of the community with her many skills. Readily adaptable to any and all tasks, she was an assistant to the prioress, chief dishwasher, and the fastest mopper of floors in Monastery memory. Like her sister, Sister Armella (Margaret), who entered a few years after she did and preceded her in death, Sister Benigna was built close to the ground with boundless energy, a sunny disposition, and the tendency to mumble loudly to herself when doing chores. When she vacuumed the community room she was accompanied by Petey the parakeet, whom she released from his cage so he could ?get some exercise. ? Actually he was a lazy bird and her good friend, so he rode on the v-neck of her jumper like a big parakeet brooch. She mumbled full throttle; he tootled and nodded?daily. She slowly began to manifest her age, and from 1994 until her death, she was a resident at St. Vincent?s Care Center, where she was appreciated for her gratitude, prayerfulness, and friendly smile. She is survived by one sister, Gertie Johnson of Seattle, and one brother and sister-in-law Eugene and Lillian Weisbeck of Bismarck. She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Matt, Peter, Sebastian, and sisters Mary Kocher, Sister Armella, and Loretta Turner, several nieces and nephews, and, of course, her Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery.


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Burial Date: November 26, 2007
Funeral Home Dickinson, ND

Mass: Monday, Sacred Heart Monastery, Richardton, ND