Aunt Helen, a Maryknoll Sister

My Aunt Helen Wild was born May 25, 1915 and is still going strong at 93 with a strong spirit, a flashing smile and a heart of gold. She is fluent in three languages and considering her soft voice and gentle kindness her life history would amaze you. Since her twenties she has been a member of the Maryknoll Missionary Sisters, spending many challenging years in Bolivia. This was a time of great change amid the Bolivian National Revolution, an era of socio-political upset with unstable borders and leadership. Education was a luxury only for the wealthy until the Maryknoll Missioners brought it to the rural peasants. She also spent years in Hawaii; not the tourists' Hawaii we think of, rather the impoverished and homeless Native and Asian people in great need of help, hope and healing.

 One of the youngest of 10 children (including my Dad) of Austrian immigrants she grew up on a Baron, Wisconsin farm with a deep appreciation for the value of family, hard work, and faith. When her last siblings, my Aunt Hermina, 97 and my Uncle Harold, 94 passed away last spring I vowed to spend some time with Helen. Very soon.

So I flew to the East Coast recently and stayed with my wonderful niece Lindsay and her (equally wonderful) husband Dave. Lindsay and I went to Ossining, New York to the Maryknoll Motherhouse together to see Aunt Helen. My aunt was just as I remembered her from about ten years ago and even from my youth. Her shiny silver hair and limited mobility were all that revealed the years. Her vision, hearing and memory are enviable. I took an envelope of old photos and Lindsay took one from her wall, still in the frame. We took our time studying the pictures as memories flooded back for Helen and myself and we all learned more about each other. We had lunch on a beautiful terrace amid a colorful vegetable and flower garden overlooking a peaceful courtyard. There were surprises, revelations, insights into my father's youth, exhilarating laughter, and sorrowful moments, too. We spent most of the day and felt a reluctance to leave her behind and a strong desire to return.












 Maryknoll Sisters continue to "make God's love visible" throughout the world today.