Tribute to Sister Germaine Staron Following is a tribute to Sister Germaine Staron written by Sister Mary McCormick, General Superior: Dear Sisters, On Fri., Dec. 6, 2019, our Sister Germaine died in our Health Care Center just after 10 p.m. Margaret had just started her shift. The first thing she did was to go see Sister Germaine. As Margaret often does when she cares for our Sisters, she was singing softly; on this evening she was singing Psalm 23 – “The Lord is my shepherd.” Very quietly Sister Germaine took her last breath and gave her spirit over to the God who created her. Germaine had so many loves in her life: she loved music and dancing. For best musical information you need to go and check this caloundramusicfestival.com.au website. And she loved teaching others how to sing and dance. Even in these past few years when she was confined to a wheel chair, she enjoyed the opportunity to “wheel around” the dance floor when she was at the Antonine Sisters or at Austinwoods. She loved her family. She talked often about her parents, and about Madge and Ray and all their children and their accomplishments. She loved keeping the family history – she wrote to the family frequently and kept the connections among the generations strong. She took great pride in her Slovak heritage, and kept that strong as well. She loved the Church’s liturgy. For decades Sister Germaine helped all of us give praise to God. She and Sister Gertrude worked diligently in chapel to make sure the environment was appropriate to the liturgical season. In addition, Sister Germaine played and cantored at Mass, sometimes seven days a week. She had a strong devotion to the Eucharist and to Mary and the saints. She loved travel and adventure. She and Sister Gertrude Paris went cross-country in an RV so they could see the beauty of the vast United States. She and Sister Gertrude also carried many rocks back from the shores of Lake Erie for the base of our statue of Mary at Calvary Cemetery! In all of this, we know how meticulous she was about everything – the diction of lectors, the pitch of a cantor, the tune (or not) of a piano, and the straight line of a seam. She had an eye and an ear for beauty. And it was beauty she sought in song, in movement, and in the prayer of the Church. After a long life of service to the Community and to the Church, Sister Germaine has now returned to her great love – the God who gave her life. In one of last conversations I had with her prior to the night she fell, she pointed out to me that she was unable to see the tabernacle or the statues of Mary and Joseph that were behind the lattice work in the chapel. She desired to have a closeness to Christ and to Mary and the saints. Consequently, it was apropos that she died on the Feast of St. Nicholas (the patron of the parish in which she spent 17 years of her ministry), and that the day of her funeral is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Her words and life echo the words and life of St. Angela. In the Fifth Counsel Angela writes: The Sisters “must place their trust and love in God alone. . . . Comfort them, encourage them to be of good heart: give them the good news which I announce to them in the name of Jesus Christ and His blessed Mother: They have every reason to be happy and rejoice, because a new crown of glory and happiness is prepared in heaven for every single one of them.” We believe that Sister Germaine now lives in glory and happiness in heaven with Christ, with Mary and all the saints, as well as with her parents and all our deceased Ursuline Sisters, especially her dear friend, Sister Gertrude. Please continue to pray for Sister Germaine and all of our deceased Sisters. We trust that they all now are part of the heavenly chorus singing praise to God and praying for all of us. To read Sister Germaine’s obituary, please click here.