Benedictine Sister Louise (Redempta) Koltes, 87, died Aug. 22 at St. Cloud Hospital, St. Cloud. The Eucharist of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 30, at Sacred Heart Chapel, St. Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, with burial in the monastery cemetery. Friends may call at St. Scholastica Convent, St. Cloud, on Monday, Aug. 29, 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 at 9 a.m. until the time of the funeral on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
Sister Louise Koltes was born Aug. 16, 1935, to John and Magdaline (Ahles) Koltes in Maine Prairie Township, north of Kimball, the oldest in her family of four brothers and five sisters. She attended Maine Prairie District School for three years, graduated from Holy Cross Grade School in Pearl Lake/Marty in 1948, attended Kimball High School for three years and graduated from St. Benedict’s High School in St. Joseph. She entered St. Benedict’s Monastery on Sept. 3, 1952, was received into the novitiate as Sister Redempta June 17, 1953, made first monastic profession Dec. 19, 1954, and perpetual monastic profession July 11, 1958. Sister Louise reverted to her baptismal name in 1969. She celebrated her golden jubilee in 2004 and 60th jubilee in 2014.
A graduate of the College of St. Benedict, St. Jospeh, with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a minor in history, Sister Louise later earned a master’s degree in pastoral ministry from St. John’s School of Theology, Collegeville. She completed four units of clinical pastoral education while in Marshall, Minnesota, and attended workshops in music, theology and Native American culture.
She served as an educator, organist and/or director of music in Red Lake, Richmond, Gilman, Bluffton, Greenwald, Pearl Lake and St. Cloud, all in Minnesota, and also taught religious education. Following 10 years in medical records at St. Cloud Hospital, Sister Louise served as coordinator of liturgy, ministers of music, lectors, hospitality, Eucharistic ministers and environment for worship in Alexandria. In Marshall, she served as a pastoral minister of the sick and aged, director of social concerns, and liturgy coordinator. In Delano, Minnesota, she was music director at St. Joseph and St. Peter Churches. At St. Raphael’s Convent, St. Cloud, she served as organist and liturgy coordinator, and later served at Mother of Mercy Nursing Home, Albany, where she was involved in spiritual ministries including music and liturgy. In 2008, she moved to St. Scholastica Convent to be the director of music and coordinator of liturgy, and later served as organist and receptionist.
She is survived by members of her Benedictine community, her brothers, William and Stephen (Lenora), her sisters, Mary (James) Molitor, Katherine Counter, Anne Marie (Marvin) Salzer and Rosalie Culbertson, and her sisters-in-law, Sonya Koltes and Donna Koltes, as well as nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers, Michael and John, her sister, Margaret Koltes, and her brothers-in-law, Robert Hansen, Oliver Counter, Harold Och and Bruce Culbertson.
Please direct memorial gifts to the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict Outreach Ministries.