Leona Baumstarck

Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Leona (Catherine) Baumstarck, 92, of Sacred Heart Monastery, Richardton, will be 10:00 a.m., Monday, July 2, 2012 at Sacred Heart Monastery, Richardton, ND, with Father Abbot Brian Wangler, O. S. B. and Prioress Sister Paula Larson celebrating. Burial will follow in the Sacred Heart Monastery Cemetery.


Visitation for Sister Leona will be 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Sunday, July 1, 2012 at Sacred Heart Monastery with a Wake service being held at 7:00 p.m.


Sister Leona (Catherine) Baumstarck passed away Friday, June 29, 2012 at the Richardton Health Center from complications of a recent stroke.


Sister Leona was born on a farm in Emmons County near Linton and was one of fourteen children born to Juliana (Vetter) and Adam Baumstarck. At the age of twenty-three she entered Sacred Heart Convent while it was located at St. Leo’s in Minot. She was one of three in that class (Sisters Rita Leingang and Jeanette Werner were the other two) so their reception, temporary and perpetual vows happened at St. Leo’s Church probably to accommodate the huge crowd of relatives for so small a chapel. Immediately following her profession, Sister Leona went to serve at the old St. Vincent’s Home in Bismarck in her first career there as the laundress. After a while she was recalled to Sacred Heart Convent to be the cook, but she fell ill and discovered she had an allergy to flour. The second time she went to St. Vincent’s she served as third-floor supervisor. It was not too long, however, before she was brought home to Sacred Heart to serve as the procurator and put in charge of the farm and the huge garden. As was typical at the time, obedience trumped qualifications. She said, “The garden is something I knew nothing about! That first garden, I believe, grew on faith and the tears I shed. ” She drove the tractor and was one of the few drivers at the time for the Sisters. After Sacred Heart Academy in Minot closed in 1965, Sister Leona went to our St. Luke’s Hospital in Crosby to be the food service supervisor. During the summers of 1964-66 she attended Fontbonne College in St. Louis, MO, to earn her certification as a food service supervisor, a certification of which she was duly proud and put into service. After Crosby she went back to St. Vincent’s for her third and fourth careers there: nursing aide and then food service supervisor for twenty years. When she returned to Sacred Heart (now in Richardton) she spent nine years in that capacity at the monastery before her retirement in 1998. Her mother’s advice from many, many years earlier served her well: “Girls, learn how to cook with little.” Retirement meant she would help with the Christmas and Easter baking (those famous Easter lamb cakes) and various desserts throughout the year. By time evening recreation came around she was ready to sit down to a game of Pinochle; well, several games usually. Sister Leona delighted in her service and in pleasing palates. She was a good community member because she looked for ways to bring joy to others.


She is survived by her monastic community as well as a brother Adam (Cecilia) Baumstarck of Linton, ND, and two sisters, Kenegunda (Leo) Unser of Napoleon, ND and Juliana Malsom of Ipswitch, SD; sisters-in-law Beverly Baumstarck; brother-in-law Alfred Steiger; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.


She was pre-deceased by her brothers Leo, Joseph, John, Valentine, and Conrad and sisters Anna Mary Miller, Frances Baer, Albina Leingang, Margareta Steiger, and Clementine Baumstarck.


Click to View Program (PDF)


Burial Date: July 2, 2012
Funeral Home Dickinson, ND

Mass of Christian Burial: Monday: Sacred Heart Monastery, Richardton, ND