Margil Renner

Sister Margil Renner, OSB, of Sacred Heart Monastery, Richardton, died at St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck on April 25, following several years of failing health. The Wake Service will be held Tuesday, April 29, 7:00 p.m., and the Funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 30, both at the Monastery chapel in Richardton. She will be buried in the monastery cemetery. Presider for the Eucharist is Fr. Boniface Muggli, of Assumption Abbey, with Sr. Marie Hunkler, prioress, presiding at the monastic funeral rites. Sister Margil (Clara), born on April 3, 1918, was the second oldest of six girls born to Christ and Margaret (Amann) Renner of rural Richardton. She attended St. Mary?s Grade School in Richardton. After the death of both parents in 1932, she entered Sacred Heart Convent in Garrison where she began high school and made her first monastic profession in1937. She attended Mount Marty College in Yankton, South Dakota, and Minot State University in Minot where she earned degrees in elementary and special education. For thirty-three years she taught primary grades at Catholic schools in Karlsruhe, Fallon, Hague, Garrison, and both Little Flower and St. Leo?s in Minot. Her special interest in students who were physically and mentally challenged prompted her to take advanced studies in CCD special education at Cardinal Stritch College in Milwaukee, and she interned at several summer camps at St. Coletta?s College in Jefferson, Wisconsin. In 1974 she left the classroom to devote her skills full time to providing religious special education to persons in the Dickinson area. In 1975, Sister Margil and Brother Bede Baldry founded Camp Re-Creation, a summer religion camp for handicapped persons, hosted at Assumption Abbey in Richardton. She continued as co-director until 1991 when she regretfully resigned for health reasons. But her ministry continued the year round with her beloved “campers” and their parents by letters, visits, and phone calls. She called these favored friends, who numbered in the hundreds, “God?s special saints of our times.” In November, 1999, Sister Margil became a resident at St. Vincent?s Care Center in Bismarck where she volunteered her ministry of prayer and hospitality among the other residents until her death. She was a board member of the Dickinson Association for Retarded Citizens, and served on the Charity and Justice Commission and the Sisters? Council of the Diocese of Bismarck. She was the recipient of the 1993 Outstanding Catechist Award for the Diocese of Bismarck, which recognized her notable ministry in calling attention to the spiritual needs of disadvantaged persons. Sister Margil is survived by her youngest sister, Alice Diede of Lambert, Montana, several nephews and nieces and the Sisters of the monastery. She was preceded in death by her parents and sisters Emilia Berger, Hildegard Meissner, Emma Bauer, and Margie Zander.


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Burial Date: April 30, 2003
Funeral Home Dickinson, ND