Obituary: Benedictine Sister Dale Wollum

Benedictine Sister Dale (Lenore) Wollum, 96, died Jan. 18, at St. Scholastica Convent, St. Cloud. A private Eucharist of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Benedict’s Monastery on Jan. 21 followed by burial in the monastery cemetery. 

Lenore, the second youngest of William and Louise (Fuhrmann) Wollum’s eight children, was born Aug. 30, 1924, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She attended St. Patrick’s Elementary and St. Patrick’s High School in Eau Claire. 

Lenore entered St. Benedict’s Monastery in September 1942, was received into the novitiate in 1944, made first monastic profession July 11, 1945, and perpetual monastic profession on July 11, 1948.  From June 21, 1948, she was a member of St. Bede Monastery in Eau Claire, until Aug. 15, 2010, when she returned to St. Benedict’s Monastery. 

Sister Dale received a bachelor’s degree in education from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, and a master’s degree in education from the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire. She also attended St. Paul Diocesan Teachers’ College, St. Thomas University in St. Paul, St. John’s University in Collegeville, College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Notre Dame in Indiana, St. Norbert’s College in DePere, Wisconsin, and Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

For 40 years, education was at the heart of S. Dale’s ministry as a teacher of intermediate and upper grades, beginning at St. Mary’s in St. Cloud. When she moved to St. Bede, she taught in Wisconsin at St. Thomas More in La Crosse,  St. Benedict’s in Altoona, St. Patrick’s in Onalaska, St. John’s in Edgar, and as exchange teacher in Minnesota at St. Ann’s in Minneapolis and Immaculate Heart in St. Paul. She was also principal, teacher and superior at St. Francis in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, and St. Mary’s in Richland Center, Wisconsin. For 10 years, she taught English at St. Bede Academy in Eau Claire. 

Later she changed careers and served as director of religious education at St. Aloysius in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, and parish minister at St. Patrick’s in Onalaska, Wisconsin.

At St. Bede Monastery, she served as community secretary and house coordinator. In August 2010, she moved to St. Scholastica Convent, St. Cloud, where she continued community service. Sister Dale loved to write poetry and had two books of poetry published as well as poems in national and international anthologies. 

She is survived by the sisters in her Benedictine community and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her three brothers, William, Donald and Dale, and her four sisters, Loraine Ludwikoski, Muriel Candell, Vera White and Betty Skutley.

Please direct memorial gifts to the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict Outreach Ministries.

  Share:

Author: The Central Minnesota Catholic

The Central Minnesota Catholic is the magazine for the Diocese of St. Cloud.

Leave a Reply

*