Sister Michon Desmond FSPA

1933 - 2022

Sister Michon Desmond, FSPA

Sister Michon Desmond, Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, 89, died on Thursday, November 3, 2022 at St. Rose Convent, La Crosse, WI. She was in the sixty-eighth year of religious profession.

Sister Michon (Barbara Jane) was born to John W. and Vera (Duffy) Desmond on August 28, 1933, in Winona, MN, the eldest of six children. Her father's work, assistant sales manager for Auto-lite, led the family to move to La Crosse shortly after her birth. There she attended St. James School and Aquinas High School, both staffed by FSPA. After high school graduation she felt a call to join the FSPA.

Barbara Jane entered St. Rose Convent in the fall of 1951. On August 12, 1954, she made her first profession of vows as a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration.

For almost 30 years she ministered in junior and senior high schools as a teacher and principal in Wisconsin, Washington, Guam, and Montana. She earned a bachelor's degree in history with minors in English and sociology from Viterbo College (University), La Crosse, and a master's degree from St. Louis University in American history and Asian studies. In 1977, she received a Fulbright scholarship to India, an adventure, she said, that "enhanced my Asian Studies classes." After a year's internship in the Student Development Department at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Sister Michon was appointed Dean of Students at Viterbo College. She was instrumental in expanding student life programming at the time the college was rapidly growing its enrollment of lay students.

In 1989, she was elected Regional Assistant for the FSPA Eastern Region (now Marywood Spirituality Center), Arbor Vitae, WI; four years later, she was elected Regional Leader. After a year's sabbatical in 1998 at the Tau Center in Winona, Sister Michon moved to St. Rose Convent where she served as assistant administrator for the sisters. In 2007, she moved to Villa St. Joseph, La Crosse, ministering as a volunteer to the community until 2019. At that time she retired to St. Rose Convent where her ministry was that of prayer and hospitality.

Sister Michon is survived by her Franciscan Community, her sisters: Margaret Ziegelmaier (Bristol, WI) and Sister Rosemary Desmond, FSPA, (La Crosse); two sisters-in-law: Catherine Desmond (Watertown, WI) and Julie Desmond (Troy, MI); one brother-in-law, Corey DeGaetano (Onalaska, WI) and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers: John and Dennis and her sister, Kathleen DeGaetano.

Friends may call after 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 9, 2022, when her body will be brought to St. Rose Convent, La Crosse. A prayer service will be held at 4:00 p.m. in Mary of the Angels Chapel. There will be a live-streamed sharing at 6:30 p.m. that evening. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, November 10, at 10:00 a.m. in Mary of the Angels Chapel. Burial will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, La Crosse.

Dickinson Family Funeral Homes is assisting with arrangements.

Memorials may be sent to Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 912 Market Street, La Crosse, WI 54601-4728.