Bio: Elsinger, Sister Florentina (Golden Jubilee - 1977)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Eslinger, Goode, Reuter, Osowski, Meyer, Fischer, Castner, Vandehey

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 9/15/1977

Elsinger, Sister Florentina (Golden Jubilee – 15 June 1977)

Sister Florentina Elsinger S.S.S.F. planned her golden Jubilee as a School Sister of St. Francis so tat she could be with her family at Loyal, recently, for a reunion and to meet friends at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church.

The daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Elsinger, rural Loyal, had attended St. Balthasar School, now St. Anthony’s in Loyal, as Crescentia Elsinger before entering St. Joseph’s Convent in Milwaukee, August 24, 1926. On June 5, 1927, she became a School Sister of St. Francis and made her final vows in August of 1936.

She had spent 27 of her 47 years in the teaching profession as a principal, including schools in Chicago, Skokie, Wooddale and Aurora, Illinois.

The past three years, she has been coordinator of activities at St. Joseph’s Convent at Campbellsport, a home for aged sisters. She is also coordinator of religious programs for six parishes and spends Thursdays at the Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution.

A Mass of Thanksgiving preceded the dinner for more than 150. The Christian Mothers of St. Anthony were in charge. The afternoon was spent in visiting.

Taking part in the mass, with the Rev. Chester Osowski, pastor of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, were Jon Meyer and Sisters Janet Fischer, La Crosse; Helen Castner, Wausau; Antilia Vandehey, Sparta and Virdean Meyer, Marshfield.

All her brothers and sisters except George Elsinger of San Diego, Ca.; attended. They were Andrew Elsinger, Guttenberg, Ia.; Lawrence Elsinger, Big Stone City, S.D.,; Mrs. Thomas E. (Veronica) Goode, Lake Worth, Fl.; Mrs. Richard (Sylvia) Reuter, West Palm Beach, Fl.; John Elsinger, Loyal; Mrs. Paul (Marian) Reuter, DeWitt, Mi.; Gerald Elsinger, Conway, Ar.; and Francis Elsinger, Oshkosh.