Marie Laure Pollet
August 11, 1898 - November 13, 1994For Mother, a good meal in the proper setting was truly a eucharist.
"It is the end of an era," echoed through the community. A sister we know had a T-Shirt with the words, "This is no ordinary person you're dealing with." "Mother" might have seen it, and lifted that one telling eyebrow, but the words would fit herself. She was by nature reserved, yet no one was more social. She lived well past her "scores" (the biblical three score and ten) and had buried all seven sisters of her peer group and all but two younger siblings. She longed to "be dissolved and be with Christ" but she could not pass up an opportunity to celebrate life and birthdays.
Sr. Beatrice, hall coordinator, told of how in August Mother invited all the sisters on her hall out for dinner to the elegant Peppermill Restaurant and wore a decorative nametag she had made for herself with "Sr. M. Imelda Pollet, 96th birthday." When the restaurant, rising to the occasion announced dessert on the house, a gourmet specialty bread pudding she asked in her demurest way if she could please have the pecan pie. She got the pecan pie.
Sr. Marlene was inspired to select for her funeral the Dan Schutte song "Table of Plenty." For Mother, a good meal in the proper setting was truly a eucharist.
Her life was one of service, as her grade school and high school students (now senior citizens) at her funeral attested. Although she had thrust upon h
er the heaviest task, that of leadership through the years 1956-1968, Sr. M. de Lourdes recalled how she never faltered in her dedication, nor in her effort to understand how to reach out to the individual sister.
During her tenure as "Mother General" she received the first vows of 116 sisters, beginning with Sr. Joel Gubler. She presided over the beginning of hospital ministry in Hammond and the opening of six schools, including San Miguel in Ilave, Peru. Two of these still (in 1994) claim our sisters: St. Joan of Arc and St. Clare. It was she who began negotiating to invite the Cabra Dominicans to come here when our numbers were declining. Only the Heavenly Bookkeeper can know the good that has come from her dedication.
Determination was her hallmark. A cousin said it runs in the family. Diminutive in size, she was not to be underestimated, to the very end. Loyalty to her friends and to her community was her unfailing strength, and the standing room only crowd at her funeral in the motherhouse chapel included many who have collections of her letters and cards, handwritten right up to the time of her death.
Our belief in life after death, however mysterious the revelation may be, leads us to picture her at a Thanksgiving banquet with those she loved so well.
