African American Franciscan Sisters of Mary Offer Encouragement For Turbulent Times

From the SSM Health St. Clare Hospital - Fenton:

March 2, 2021

As we bring African American History Month to a close, we’re blessed to have our two remaining African American Franciscan Sisters of Mary (FSM) share insight into our past and hope for our future.

Sr. Thelma Mitchell, 92, and Sr. Sarah Sykes, 86, joined SSM Health and our founding religious congregation at a time when much of the nation was still highly segregated. It would be years before Ruby Bridges would take the brave steps to integrate the first elementary school in the South or Rosa Parks would refuse to give up her seat to a white passenger on her bus ride home. Both women were drawn to careers in nursing and SSM Health’s first hospital, St. Mary’s Infirmary in St. Louis, as the first Catholic hospital and nursing school in the United States for African Americans. Soon, both women recognized that God was calling them to much more than a job.

When Sr. Thelma first started attending nursing school at St. Mary’s Infirmary in 1947, it was the only nursing school she could attend, and just two years after the Franciscan Sisters of Mary (formerly the Sisters of St. Mary) had begun accepting African American postulants. At the time, Sr. Thelma had no thoughts of pursuing a religious life. In fact, nursing school was the first time she’d ever seen a nun.

After finishing nursing school, she and two other young women were sent to work at SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital - Jefferson City. They were the first African American nurses at the hospital and were sent there at the request of hospital administrator Sr. Josetta Witte. One day after her arrival, Sr. Josetta asked Sr. Thelma if she would be interested in religious life. “I didn’t know a thing about it,” she said. “I was not at all religious and didn’t grow up Catholic. She told me to think about it – but I didn’t.”

Regardless, Sr. Josetta continued to write letters of encouragement – even after Sr. Thelma left St. Mary’s. Finally, persistence paid off and Sr. Thelma answered the call. “I have no idea why she thought I should be a nun -- I guess God must’ve told her,” she said with a laugh, after 67 years with the congregation. “God works in mysterious ways. And I’ve never regretted it.”

Sr. Thelma went on to work at both SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis at different times throughout her career. She served in nursing at St. Mary’s from 1956-1961 and became head nurse in obstetrics.

Similarly, Sr. Sarah shares the sentiment of being led by God throughout her life and career – and having the right people placed in her path. As a young girl, she felt a pull to the religious life and admired the nuns at her school, but she knew she didn’t want to be a teacher. After high school, she was encouraged by her mother to consider nursing. In 1954, she began working as a nurse’s aide in the operating room at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Louis – and met her first FSMs.

“One day, I was on the bus on my way home, and it was just like Jesus said to me, ‘You can be a sister and you can be a nurse with these sisters,” she recalled. “I thought, yeah, I can do that! So, I started the process of entering the congregation. That was in 1955, so this is my 65th year.”

She went on to spend 21 years in the operating room at several SSM Health hospitals and continued her education in nursing. But when she moved back to St. Louis to work with the sisters in assisted living at the convent, her career took a surprising turn. She realized that no one knew how to properly work with the hair of her African American sisters. She tried different solutions and realized how much she enjoyed making people feel better on the outside.

Subsequently, she asked to go to cosmetology school. Eventually she worked as a beautician at the convent and in skilled nursing at St. Mary’s. She said it was the career that she truly enjoyed most because when she styled people’s hair, they felt better all over.

“I think through all of those times that I had been led from one phase into the other,” she said. “Somewhere along the line, there was somebody that recognized my abilities and what I could do, and what I liked. I was just spurred on.”

Between the two sisters, they have 133 years of dedication to religious life with the FSMs. Both are now settled in The Sarah Community in St. Louis – but still have much love and wisdom to offer SSM Health’s caregivers and providers during these turbulent times.

Sr. Thelma says that empathy can go a long way when faced with difficult people or circumstances. “I try to show understanding,” she said. “Maybe they have something going on that I’m not aware of. Try to be the best person you can be and accept people where they are.”

“SSM Health has a wonderful Mission,” said Sr. Sarah. “When we look to see how we are living that Mission statement – to be the healing, compassionate presence of Jesus – it brings out the love that we have for other people. It also helps us realize that we are interconnected with everybody and we are all God's children. We need to communicate with each other and accept people as they are, regardless of their race, religion, their color, their culture. Talking to people and getting to know them and their cultures really enhances us. It just makes us better people.”

To view the full press release, including photos, click here.

This press release was produced by the SSM Health St. Clare Hospital - Fenton. The views expressed are the author's own.