Benedictine Sister Jeanne Marie Vanderlinde, 72, died April 27 at St. Scholastica Convent, St. Cloud. The Eucharist of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 4, at the Sacred Heart Chapel, St. Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph. Burial will be in the monastery cemetery. Friends may call at St. Scholastica Convent on Wednesday, May 3, for a prayer service at 3 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 at 9 a.m. until the time of the funeral on May 4.
The second of Jerome and Rosemary (Willems) Vanderlinde’s 10 children, she was born in Waconia, Minnesota. She attended St. Boniface School in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota, and Watertown Public High School in Watertown, Minnesota. She entered St. Benedict’s Monastery Aug. 31, 1968, was received into the novitiate on June 8, 1969, made first monastic profession July 3, 1971, and perpetual monastic profession July 11, 1975. Her golden jubilee was celebrated in 2021.
A graduate of the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, Sister Jeanne Marie received a bachelor’s degree in history and secondary education. She also studied at St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and received a master’s degree in education from St. Mary’s University, Winona, Minnesota.
Education was her passion. She taught for a total of 48 years at two high schools: history and social studies at Cathedral in St. Cloud and social studies and junior high religion at Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. While teaching, she also served as assistant director of vocation ministry at St. Benedict’s Monastery and as a member of the monastic council.
Following a diagnosis of cancer in 2022, Sister Jeanne Marie moved back to St. Benedict’s Monastery where she was assigned as an associate in the mission advancement department. She was also involved in the Together Encountering Christ program in Central Minnesota since its origin in 1979 and had leadership training in the Minnesota Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity Project, where she facilitated a program at Benilde-St. Margaret’s.
Sister Jeanne Marie is survived by the sisters in her Benedictine community, her sisters, Connie (Merlin) Woytcke, Diane Vanderlinde and special friend, Becky Hargens, Barbara Strehlke, Joyce Bruner, Kristie (James) Swartzer, and Marcy Vanderlinde, and by her brothers Michael (Wanda), Jerome (Amy) and Lee, as well as many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and niece, Stacy Vanderlinde.
Please direct memorial gifts to the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict Outreach Ministries.