Benedictine Sister Doris Irene (Thomasella) Steinfeldt, 94, died Oct. 30 at St. Scholastica Convent, St. Cloud. The Eucharist of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, at the Sacred Heart Chapel, St. Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph. Burial of her cremated remains will be in the monastery cemetery.
Friends may call at St. Scholastica Convent on Thursday, Nov.7, for a prayer service at 1 p.m. followed by visitation until 4:15 p.m., or for a vigil prayer service at 7 p.m. at St. Benedict’s Monastery. Visitation continues Friday at 9 a.m. until the time of the funeral.
Sister Doris was born Oct. 18, 1925, to Frederick and Irene (Rayome) Steinfeldt in Port Edwards, Wisconsin, the middle child of five. She attended John Edwards Grade and High School in Port Edwards. She entered St. Benedict’s Monastery in September 1944, was received into the novitiate June 1945 as Sister Thomasella and made her first monastic profession July 1946. On July 11, 1949, she made her perpetual monastic profession as a member of the newly independent Saint Bede Monastery, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She celebrated her golden jubilee in 1996 and 60th anniversary of profession in 2006.
Sister Doris received a bachelor’s degree in biology and minor in chemistry from the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph. She completed an internship in medical technology at St. Cloud Hospital and was certified as a medical technologist. At St. Cloud Hospital, she completed a radiologic technology program and later, at St. Francis Hospital School of Radiologic Technology in La Crosse, Wisconsin, an internship in radiology. She attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, for teacher preparation, and received a master’s degree in health education/health sciences with a minor in advanced radiology from State University of New York in Buffalo, New York.
She supervised the medical lab/radiology department at Garrison Hospital in Garrison, North Dakota; was director of medical lab/radiology department at St. Benedict’s Hospital in Durand, Wisconsin; director of the first radiography program in the Midwest and clinical instructor for associate degrees at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire. She also taught chemistry and physics at Regis High School, Eau Claire.
Sister Doris is survived by members of her Benedictine community and her sisters, Salvatorian Sister Clarice (Alice) Steinfeldt and Marilyn Rehberg. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, Robert and Wayne.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Benson Funeral Home. Please direct memorial gifts to the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict Outreach Ministries.