From Colleen:
This past Sunday morning my aunt Sister Rose Marie Larkin passed away. She was a Catholic nun for 75 years!! She was an amazing person who dedicated her life to her beliefs. She was 95 years old. She lived in St Scholastica Monastery in Duluth Minnesota. She is the last of her generation in my family, the final remaining kid out of her sibs and outlived them all by quite a stretch. Outside of the church she enjoyed many things including Gardening and watching Golf on TV and Dr Phil and any DVD's with Rick Steve's from PBS traveling the world. She loved to hear about where I was traveling to & I think she went on little virtual trips with me. She traveled a lot up until she was no longer able to. I got a big kick out of is when she was 80 and traveled to Ireland by herself and stayed in convents along the way, I was horrified when I found out that for example when she was in Ireland, visiting a convent and stayed there, that they charged her room and board. I mean come oN!! Anyhow she was super tolerant of my rebellious ways & never scolded me too much. She did not like Obama and we could just agree to disagree on that. She voted for Jesse Ventura when he ran for Gov. She very much loved all her 12 nieces and nephews and kept in close touch with all of them. She could tell you what each was doing, knew all of the Great niece and nephews names and what each of them were up to as well. Beyond that she also knew what the Great/Great Nieces and Nephews were doing as well.
I remember one time she was at my house when my son Chris was in High School and he mentioned studying Beowulf, she immediately recited a portion by heart in Old English!
She also had an amazing way of getting you to do just what she wanted and make you think it was your own idea... like our upcoming Family Reunion in Colorado!
I always went up to St Scholastica in Feb for her Birthday. My sister and I would stay in the monastery.. always an interesting experience. I missed out on that this year because of my bronchitis, but I am not feeling bad about that because I had lots of good times there in the past.
I will remember her very fondly.
From Alison:
I will remember her as always making everyone so comfortable with her. Remember when she came to our Mpls house and she loved putting her feet in our hot tub?? She would always tell me that she was a part of me, and that she always prayed for all of us. That meant a great deal to me. She was one of those unforgettable people that anyone who met her will never forget. I only went to Duluth one or two times, but she made us so happy by showing her delight in us buying her some wine. We also had some great times down here when she went to her yearly meetings, she would always turn heads and she loved to see what she could get away with. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and she went to tell the owner how much she enjoyed his bread. Of course he reached right into the case and handed her a loaf. It was just a hoot to experience!! Alison
From Susan:
I realize that my specific memories are scattered. But the one I like best is that Sister and Mary embarked on a road trip to visit us. We took them to a wonderful historic old hotel at Grand Lake…where we had rooms described as “rustic”. This turned out to mean that they set a little fire for you at the foot of your bed to light in the room when you got cold (VERY cold). They were good sports about it…so we took them to the Alpine slide in Winter Park. Seniors slid for free so we requested those tickets for Sister and Mary…and they ASKED FOR ID…do you really think a nun would lie to ride a slide? Funnier yet, Mary was insulted and didn’t want to show her ID so we bought her a ticket. That is how we got the slide photo with Sister’s habit all tucked in so as not to hang up on anything and drag her to her death. She later sent that photo to be put in her Nursing school college reunion book…
Regarding Ireland, Colleen: do you remember that she only found out THERE that they wouldn’t rent a car to someone her age…
Anyone else have a fun thought? She had long enough to provide a plethora of them!
Best to you all
Susan
