Long life of service shaped Missionary Benedictine Sister Paula Leick

Missionary Benedictine Sister Paula Leick’s 96 years of life included growing up in a large family during the Great Depression, nearly 75 years of religious life and decades of medical service.

Those experiences gave her a spirit of gratitude, simplicity, ingenuity and common sense, her fellow sisters said.

“Sr. Paula died peacefully July 8, 2020, at 2:50 p.m., as the sisters sang a song of surrender and trust,” the Missionary Benedictines said in a written tribute.

A private funeral Mass was celebrated July 10 at Immaculata Monastery in Norfolk, with burial at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Norfolk.

“Just days before she died, Sr. Paula recalled how blessed she feels,” the sisters wrote. “It was clear that faith and love were the foundation stones of her family and remained with her through her 96 years of life.”

She served in a variety of health care roles, including lab assistant, medical records, accounting and administration, mostly in Minnesota. In Nebraska, she served at Sacred Heart Hospital in Lynch and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Immaculata Monastery in Norfolk.

Sister Paula was born Agnes Ann Leick and raised with nine siblings on a small farm near St. Bernard, where she attended the former St. Bernard Catholic School until 10th grade.

In 1941, she decided to join two older sisters in becoming a Missionary Benedictine in Raeville. She made her first profession in 1945 and final vows in 1949. Sister Paula would have celebrated her 75th jubilee of profession this month.

In retirement Sister Paula found pleasure in creative sewing and crocheting colorful afghans, the sisters said.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Catherine, and siblings Sister Frances, Louis, Cecilia Mason, Peter, Loretta Dunn, John, Sister Germaine, Mary Frisch and Rita Mick. She is survived by 31 nieces and nephews and the Missionary Benedictine Sisters in Norfolk.