Sister Jane Walker

sister jane walker

Sister Jane Walker died at Villa Maria Nursing Home, Fargo, North Dakota, November 7, 2014.  She was born August 28,1921 at Hazelton, North Dakota.  Mary Jane was the eldest of the five children of Eleanor and Earl Walker.  As a young child she moved with her family to Fargo where she attended grade school at St. Anthony’s and graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in 1939.  After graduating from NDSU, Mary Jane entered the Sister of the Presentation, Fargo, in April, 1944 and made her Profession of Vows in 1946.   In 1944 Sister Jane Michael began her active ministry as teacher of science and home economics at Shanley High School, as well as serving as Girls’ Administrator.  She retired from this position in 1977 after serving for 34 years.

In 1977 Sister Jane (Michael) became a pastoral minister at the Church of the Nativity, Fargo.  While there it was said of her “that she dedicated her life to the plight of the ‘easily forgotten’ – the sick, the shut-ins, the widowed, the divorced, the singles, and the handicapped.”  She was instrumental in the beginning of Theos, an ecumenical group for the widowed and was the first in the Fargo Catholic Community to begin support groups for the divorced, an on-going program called “Beginniing Experience.”

In 1989, realizing the plight of the homeless, she was instrumental in giving birth to Presentation Partners in Housing and in which she was very involved until poor health caused her to resign from the Board in 2002.  Sister Jane was co-founder of the Presentation Associate Program, which today numbers more than 100 members.

 Sister Jane also served as a Council Member of the Congregation and as a Vocation Director from 1984-1988.

 Sister Jane is survived by her Sisters in Community, her brother, Tom (Mary), her brother-in-law, John Van Gilder, as well as many nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her parents, brother, Jim, sisters Annabelle and Sister Maureen.

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