Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024
Anna Thelka Bögemann Boegemann was born on a farm on September 20, 1880 in Marystown, Minnesota, the second oldest child of John Bögemann (1850-1905) and Helena Pieper Bögemann (1848-1889). Eventually John and Helena had two boys and two girls.
Anna remembered her grandfather, Anton Pieper, living in St. Louis, Missouri when the cholera epidemic broke out. Her grandmother, Sophie, and three of the four children died. Anton, along with his only living child, Helena, gave the local orphanage nuns $200 to take care of Helena, who was Anna’s mother, and Anton headed to the Gold Rush in Sacramento, California. Three years later, Anton returned to Minnesota, picked up his daughter, and eventually settled in Marystown. He hired John Bögemann as a hired hand, and later he married Helena Pieper. With the $3000 dowry, John and Helena bought a farm near Marystown, where Ann Thelka Bögemann Boegemann was born.
According to the News Page on September 25, 1982, Anna showed a keen interest in learning. At five years old, she insisted on joining her older brother when he started school in Marystown.
When Anna was nine years old, her mother died on September 29, 1889. Two years later, her father married a second time, to Maria Franzen Bögemann (1863-1939). Three boys and two girls were born in the second marriage.
Anna, at age 15, entered the order of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Milwaukee, becoming an aspirant in 1895 and taking her final vows in 1903. She became Sister Alberta Boegemann, SSND.
In the History of St. Mary’s Purification in Marystown, Scott County, Minnesota, Rev. James Klein noted that Anna was one of 17 sisters who entered Marystown over 75 years. “Sister M. Norberta (Anna Boegemann, daughter of John Boegemann and Helen Pieper), born September 20, 1880, and who is at present stationed at the College of Notre Dame, MD.”
When Sister Alberta Boegemann lived in the Milwaukee Motherhouse, under the kindly guidance of Sister Cunigunda, she began her years of training. In August 1899 she received the habit, and in December 1899 she was sent to Formosa, Ontario, where she taught grades seven, eight, and nine for nine years. In July 1903 she took her First Vows in Milwaukee.
In 1908, Sister Alberta was transferred to St. Anne’s, Kitchener, where many future Notre Dames were privileged to be in her English, Latin, and history classes. In 1920 she taught for a year in Longwood, Illinois, and in 1925 she began six years of teaching at Notre Dame of Maryland. The remaining years of teaching were spent in Ontario, in Wakerton, Kitchener, and Waterdown. She spent a short time in St. Agatha in the 1940s recuperating from ill health. By 1944 Sister Alberta was back in the Academy classrooms, where she taught until 1957.
Sister Alberta was an inspiring teacher. She was a cultured woman. When the Ontario government in the early years of the 1900s required that teachers have Ontario qualification, Sister Alberta was one of the first American sisters to receive a First Class Certificate in 1911. She also held a B.A. degree from Queen’s University and Fordham University, New York.
In her early years of retirement, she continued worthwhile reading and current events to satisfy her alert mind. Sister Alberta could sometimes be seen reading a dictionary. When asked why, she explained, “When I get to heaven I want to be able to talk to God in high-flown English.” When her eyesight declined, she focused on favorite phrases in her large-print bible.
She was a delightful conversationalist and would relate with much enjoyment anecdotes of her teaching years. She was always very gracious and so grateful for favors done. As she became older, deafness cut her off from participation, but with an appreciative smile and sly wink she would show her gratitude.
Sister Alberta celebrated her 100th birthday on September 20, 1980. She received greetings from the queen, Prime Minister Trudeau, and Premier Davis. Sister Alberta enjoyed the day with many friends, and repeatedly gladdened their hearts with her many quick, appreciative winks.
On September 25, 1982, at age 102, Sister Alberta Bögemann Boegemann died at the Canadian Mother House, Villa, where she lived. She was interred at the Villa Cemetery.
“She was a very unique woman and a marvelous teacher,” recalled Sister Miriam, a teacher at the convent. “Whenever I meet one of her students they go into ecstasies about her teaching. I’m a bit envious I didn’t have her as a teacher.”
Sister Claire, an 83-year-old nun who had Sister Alberta, remembered her as a teacher who made everyone in the classroom feel important. Sister Antoinette recalled, “She could make the works of Shakespeare come alive.”
“Quite a dramatic teacher, but very regal, too,” said Sister Antoinette.
According to Sister Claire, “She didn’t walk across the room – she floated!”
Bibliography
Klein, Rev. James. History of St. Mary’s Purification in Marystown, Scott County, Minnesota, 1930.
News Page, 25 Sept. 1982.