Until Adam Michna, who graduated from North Marion in 1980 after attending Monongah High for 3 years, posted the grave markers for the Sisters Auxiliaries of the Apostolate on Facebook, I never realized that so many of the nuns were Polish.

Duh!

The guiding force behind the beginning of the order in Canada was Father Frances Olszewski, a Polish immigrant, who passed away in 1955.

Sisters Auxiliaries of the Apostolate, eventually motherhoused in Monongah, was founded in Alberta, Canada in 1903 by Father Francis Olszewski.

When the motherhouse was destroyed by fire in 1910, the Sisters moved to Fargo, North Dakota in 1911.

In 1937 the order moved again, to New Cumberland, West Virginia.

Then the Motherhouse found its final resting place, at 142 Maple Avenue in Monongah (although you entered the driveway and playground from Church Street, which also went by St. Stanislaus and Our Lady of Pompeii churches) with missions in Scarbro and New Cumberland in West Virginia and Kilgore in Texas.

The order died out in 2006 but Sister Stephen didn’t pass away until 2012. 

When the order was chartered in West Virginia in 1937 as a type C non-profit, Sisters Mary Teresa Czapiewski and Cecilie Mary Klawitter were the official incorporators.

Monongah was chartered in 1891. The nuns came along 46 years later. The primary objective was to teach the children of the workers, such as the coal miners in Monongah and surrounding towns.

Adam Michna’s ad hoc honor roll of nuns included:

Mother Mary Ursula Langowski, 1900-1989, who could have played linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers the way she whacked me with that 2-hole paddle for more serious violations. That wood sure whistled as it approached my butt in a millisecond. The 1-hole paddle was for lesser offenses. Believe me, you felt the difference between the two paddles. Less wind resistance, more impact.

Sister Mary Clara Bednarski, 1891-1975.

Sister Mary Teresa Czapnewska.

Sister Mary Blaszkorasioa.

Mother Mary Arsenia Dziewenka, 1879-1966.

Sister Mary Cecilie Klawitter, 1890-1977.

My favorite teacher of them all, Mother Mary Agnes Lancki, who passed away in 1984. I’ll never forget her speeding on Church Street in her brother’s Jeep. Even the police who pulled her over were afraid to give her a ticket. Or the way she instilled a love for reading, grammar and writing in me that led to my 43-year newspaper career as a sportswriter, reporter and editor. Which led to, so far, a fantastic 21-year retirement with travels to 55 countries, 44 states, 20 years of Mountaineer Field football attendance and alternating between our Tallmadge, Ohio home (in kinder weather) and Paula’s home in The Villages, Florida (when Ohio is too damn cold and snowy).

Another from my stay at SP&P, Sister Mary Joseph Jankowski, 1907-1995.

Mother Mary Dolores Michna, 1912-1989.

Sister Mary Rose Michna, 1916-2006. I guess that makes Sister Dolores and Sister Rose double sisters, huh? They are Adam Michna’s relatives, of course.

Sister Mary Geraldine Wodzinski, 1907-2000.

Ah, there are always exceptions, which came later in the history of the order:

Sister Mary Francis Dunigan, an Irish lass who passed away in 1981. She was quite upset the day she found out I urinated on the steps leading to the restroom you approached from outside the building because the restroom was locked and my bladder couldn’t wait on a cold, cold day to go retrieve the key.

Sister Mary Anne Hatty, another nun you didn’t mess with, 1910-2004.

Sister Mary Stephen Reynolds, who made sure the old Sts. Peter and Paul School photos were distributed to now-adult alumni as the convent was being closed and razed, 1935-2012.

Sister Phyllis Marie Smith, who passed away in 1988.

Sister Mary James Watts, 1913-1994.

Sister Mary Madelene Colusso, 1914-2007.

Thanks, Adam for this great find of the nuns who are owed a great debt by the children of Monongah’s coal miners over the decades.

I, for one, will never be able to fully repay what I owe the Monongah nuns. This tribute is a small thank-you from the grateful son of a Polish coal miner and an Italian immigrant mother.