For Sister Dorothy Rolf, sometimes being there was enough

During 72 years of religious life, Notre Dame Sister Dorothy Rolf served as an educator and later as a chaplain.

In all her duties, Sister Dorothy’s service was grounded in a basic concept: giving people time and attention.

“From the classrooms where she encouraged young minds to the hospital rooms where she offered comfort during life’s most difficult moments, she understood that sometimes the greatest gift we can offer another person is simply our presence,” the Notre Dame Sisters said in a memorial.

The West Point native died Oct. 22 at age 91. A funeral Mass was offered Oct. 26 at Immanuel Lakeside Assisted Living in Omaha.

Sister Dorothy’s “life was rooted in prayer and trust in God’s guidance,” the sisters said. “Her legacy lives on in the countless lives she touched, and in the example she leaves of what it means to serve with love.”

She was born in West Point to John and Elizabeth (Drueke) Rolf. Her parents were hard-working people who rarely complained, and Sister Dorothy learned from them, the memorial said. She learned to pray not just at church but on farm fields and in the garden.

Sister Dorothy went to the former Notre Dame Academy in Omaha, graduating in 1952. Seeing the example of the Notre Dame Sisters, she began to recognize her own calling.

Sister Dorothy began teaching in 1956. Over the years, she taught at Catholic schools in Brainard, Prague, David City and Howells in Nebraska and Cedar Rapids in Iowa. She served as principal in Brainard, as well as at the former Assumption School in Omaha and St. Mary School in Bellevue.

Sister Dorothy also served her community, on a leadership team and in helping women discern religious life.

After decades in education, she became a chaplain, offering spiritual direction and retreats for college students in Nebraska and South Dakota.

In 2002, she embarked on 20 years of hospital chaplaincy at Bergan, Immanuel and Methodist Hospitals in the Omaha area. She worked with people at their most vulnerable moments, the Notre Dame Sisters said, and she was there to accompany them through patience and listening.

Those encounters were some of the most meaningful experiences of her religious life, they said.

From 2012 to 2022, Sister Dorothy helped lead the Notre Dame Sisters Associates, a group of lay people connected to the sisters’ spirituality and mission.

Sister Dorothy gave an example “that service does not always require grand gestures,” the sisters said. “Sometimes it means recognizing when someone needs encouragement. Sometimes it means sitting quietly with a person who is suffering. And sometimes it means trusting that God is leading us somewhere new, even when we cannot yet see the way forward.”

Survivors include her Notre Dame Sisters and her sister Bonnie (Rolf) Ault of Boulder City, Nevada.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her sister Geraldine (Rolf) Hagedorn of West Point and a brother, Daniel Rolf of Omaha.