An Oct. 15 dedication ceremony marked the completion of the Servite Sisters’ cemetery relocation project in Ladysmith. The effort to move the graves of departed Servites began in 2021; the completed site includes a steel gazebo and prayer area. (Submitted photo)

Sr. Theresa Sandok, OSM

On Oct. 15, the Servite Sisters, joined by family and friends, gathered at Riverside Cemetery in Ladysmith for a dedication of the order’s new cemetery site. The ceremony marked the completion of a multi-year effort to relocate and memorialize the graves of their departed.

The dedication ceremony began with a prayer that set a sacred tone: “Holy are these graves, holy this earth that holds in gentle embrace the bodies of our loved ones buried here.” The service concluded with an invocation for eternal rest and protection: “O God, by whose mercy the faithful departed find rest, bless these graves and send your holy angels to watch over them.”

The decision to move the convent cemetery from its location near the former motherhouse was a deeply prayerful and necessary one. Recognizing that they could no longer maintain the cemetery on their own, the Servites gathered in the fall of 2021 and chose to relocate the graves to Riverside Cemetery, where Our Lady of Sorrows Parish also has a section.

The massive undertaking began in November 2022, with the relocation of 128 graves, including three Servite priests and one diocesan priest. New markers were installed in 2023, and the construction of a prayer area, completed this year with landscaping and a grave location map, began in 2024.

The new section is anchored by a steel gazebo with eight columns. Atop the dome of the gazebo sits a Celtic cross, recognizing the order’s foundress, Mother Mary Alphonse Bradley, and the other Sisters of Irish descent. Centered under the dome is a circular paver featuring the Servite emblem. A cenotaph stands near the gazebo, with one side listing the names of Sisters buried elsewhere and the other containing a brief historical sketch of the Ladysmith Servite Sisters. A map behind the cenotaph helps visitors easily locate each grave. The road bordering the section to the north has been renamed Servite Lane.

Sinsinawa Dominican Sr. Judy Jewison, a consultant experienced in relocating religious cemeteries, advised the project. Rick Nash, a former Ladysmith funeral director, started as the project manager. Following his death in 2023, Dave Jackan, also a former Ladysmith funeral director, successfully took over and saw the project through to completion. Rosheen Styczynski of Milwaukee’s New Eden Landscape Architecture designed the prayer area and its gazebo, which was constructed locally by National Steel Fabrication of Rice Lake.

The relocated section of the cemetery is a resting place for sisters with deep international and local ties. Of those interred or listed on the cenotaph, 16 sisters hailed from foreign countries: nine from Ireland, three from Czechoslovakia, two from England, and one each from Canada and Italy. The majority of U.S.-born deceased sisters—58 in total—are from Wisconsin, the order’s home state. Illinois is the second-largest source with 35 members, which reflects the order’s history of operating large schools and a nursing home there. Additional U.S. states represented include Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, and West Virginia.

Nine sets of biological sisters are buried together, including the triple set of sisters: Srs. Bernard, Fidelis, and Mary Samz.

American flags mark the graves of two sisters who served in the U.S. military during World War II: Sr. Cecilia Gaydos, a WAVE in the Navy, and Sr. Bernice VanderLoop, a Master Sergeant in the Women’s Army Corps, who served in a top-secret position at the Pentagon.

The first member of the order to die was Leona Ross, a young postulant who entered the convent from Detroit, Michigan, in the spring of 1928. Sadly, she passed away the next spring at age 24 from spinal meningitis. Initially interred at the parish cemetery in 1929, she was moved to the newly established convent cemetery in 1935, and finally, to Riverside in 2022, earning her the distinction of being the order’s most traveled departed member.

The Servite Sisters (Servants of Mary) are a diocesan community of women religious founded in Ladysmith in 1912, affiliated with the worldwide Servite Order established in Italy in 1233. The sisters were instrumental in founding and staffing multiple institutions, including St. Mary’s Hospital and School of Nursing, St. Joseph on the Flambeau Nursing Home, Servite High School, and Mount Senario College in Ladysmith, as well as Addolorata Villa in Wheeling, Illinois.

At their peak in the 1960s, the community totaled more than 180 members serving across the United States. Today there are 21 sisters, most of whom are retired and reside in Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota.