In Loving Memory...

Sister Norma Gleason, CSC 
(Sister M. Lauretana)
Birth: November 6, 1917
Profession: February 2, 1947
Death: September 7, 2004

There used to be a lot of talk about everyone marching to the beat of her (or his) own drum. For Norma, there were times when the drum was a tambourine; although there were other times, I’m sure, when she would have preferred the tympani.

Among my recent memories of Sister Norma is a view from what was then my room on the south side of Rosary Convent. Norma was sprawled on the steps in front of the church, arms out-flung, soaking up the sun, and Norma in the same position on the grass in a sunny corner of Saint Joseph’s Court. So indelible are the memories that when the plump fabric snowman appeared in Via Loretto outside the Lourdes elevator, he looked very familiar. When playful passersby changed his position and had him reclining with an arm outstretched above the bench and I saw him then, my first reaction was – Sister Norma! Gradually the resemblance hit others, too. When I told Norma about my reaction she, too, laughed.

But there was so much more to Sister Norma. Third-generation Irish, she was born on November 6, 1917, in Irvington, New Jersey, to Joseph and Mary Loretta Hynes. When she was 2, the family moved to Lynwood, California, and gradually included seven children. Norma is the fourth of them to die. Her education was obtained in the public schools in the neighborhood and her high school was finished with two years at Compton Junior College. After graduation, she continued living at home and working at the California School Book Depository. After six years, she moved to Canoga Park for two years and studied piano, voice and languages.

There were advantages of not being the oldest in the family. She tagged along behind Connie and was known as “Connie’s little sister.” When Connie entered Holy Cross and became Sister Joseph Andre, Norma determined that this was one situation in which she would not follow where Connie led. Oh, the danger of such absolute statements! She was godmother for the first child of her oldest brother. During the ceremony she decided to become a Sister. Her brother continued to remind her that he “caused her vocation.”

Connie helped her to fill out the “Queries,” where she wrote that she hated to leave her music behind. The answer from Mother Franciana told her to bring all her music with her. She entered in July 1944, made her first profession on February 2, 1947, and her final profession in 1950. Sisters who were in the novitiate with her continue to remember her beautiful voice.

Her college major changed over the years to accommodate the changing needs of the Congregation – from languages to voice, to piano. When she did finish, she had a Bachelor of Arts degree in history with a minor in philosophy. (She used to say teasingly that she also had a PhD – phone and doorbell.)

However, she did teach music on her first missions – a semester at the academy in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a year in San Mateo, California. The rest of her community life was spent in the elementary schools of the West, most of them in California. The last mission was Saint Barnabas, where she was for 21 years. From there it was Saint Catherine’s and then Saint Mary’s.

Of another part of her life, she says, speaking in the third person: “Her hobbies include writing, playing the piano and pencil sketching. She also enjoys time to ‘diddle’ on the piano in the Lillie O’Grady Center or the Church of Loretto when either is free.” If there was an understatement that one is it. She did play the piano in the church. And she did play some drums of her own creation. In fact, she was often in the church as soon as it opened in the morning. These visits were not just to play the piano, but also to make that other kind of music – in her heart. So that it was always available, she kept her rosary where it was safe and usable – around her neck. She kept a journal in which she loved to write – in cipher. She wrote nonsense verse and always knew jokes, often involving the intellect, and spread them. How many times did she tell them as we waited for the door of the dining room to open? As long as she could, she also loved to sing hymns – even after strokes made it almost impossible. Fortunately she had Sister Arlene who could sing them with her.

Often I have wondered about the soul’s relationship with God and the ways he communicates with the person. Often the person cannot communicate in any way with other people. The heart continues beating. Somehow God is still communicating with the soul. Someday we will know. Norma does now! Do you suppose crowds of drummers, also bearing tambourines, and maybe cymbals, greeted Norma as God led her home? Sing the hymns as you dance, Norma!

Written by Sister M. Campion, CSC

Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of the Holy Cross Ministry With the Poor Fund, Saint Mary’s, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556.