Sister Ruth Marie Kachelek

1927 - 2018

(News story) Sister Ruth Marie Kachelek, a longtime educator in Catholic schools both in and out of Toledo who was elected to lead the Sylvania Sisters of St. Francis in 1992, died Tuesday in Rosary Care Center, Sylvania, at age 91.

The exact cause of her death was not reported, but Sister Jeanette Vielinski, a longtime friend, said Sister Ruth Marie had been in declining health that included several falls and heart issues. She had lived at Rosary since July, 2017.

Along with her decades of teaching and leadership, Sister Ruth Marie left behind a legacy of artwork that includes the six-foot San Damiano crucifix that hangs above the altar at the Sylvania convent's Our Lady of Queen of Peace Chapel.

She painted the crucifix in egg tempera during the 1960s, while she taught chemistry and biology first at Central Catholic High School in Toledo and then at Cardinal Stritch High School in Oregon.

Sister Ruth Marie "had natural artistic talent," said Sister Ann Carmen Barone, who worked with Sister Ruth Marie on campus art projects at the time.

"She was one of these people who wasn't afraid to try something new." Sister Ann Carmen said. "... She didn't inhibit herself. Her thinking was, 'This is what I was called to do; this is the ministry I was given. What can I do to add life to this?'"

The crucifix, Sister Ann Carmen noted, featured at its base depictions of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clair of Assisi, and Mother Mary Adelaide, then the Sylvania Franciscans' leader.

This upset Mother Adelaide, Sister Ann Carmen recounted, but Sister Ruth Marie persuasively explained that in the Middle Ages, the person commissioning an iconographic art work was traditionally depicted somewhere on that work.

Also during that time, she and fellow Franciscan artists produced the copper enamel Signs of the Zodiac that adorn the Lourdes Planetarium lobby and the copper enamel Canticle of Praise affixed to the outer wall of the Madonna Hall cloister walk.

The Zodiac series features bright colors that are a signature of Sister Ruth Marie's work, Sister Ann Carmen said.

"She loved bright things. The zodiacs are striking - they just pop off that wall," she said.

"She had a spirit of adventure - she was a woman who was filled with ideas and always embraced what was new," Sister Jeanette said. "... She was very grateful that people gave her the opportunity to explore her own talent."

Born in 1927 to Ray and Lottie Kachelek, Sister Ruth Marie entered the convent from Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in 1946, made her first religious vows in 1949, and made her final vows in 1952.

She obtained a bachelor's degree from the College of St. Teresa in Winona, Minn., and a master's degree from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

She became an elementary school teacher in Detroit and in Minnesota before starting her teaching at Central Catholic in 1958. She then taught at Stritch from 1963 to 1967 before returning to Central from 1969 to 1972.

She then became principal of a school in Cincinnati before taking that role at Regina Coeli School in Toledo from 1975 to 1977, when she was promoted to coordinator of educational development in the diocesan office.

She began a three-year term as assistant superintendent of the 19-county Toledo diocese the following year.

In 1983, she was named academic dean of Lourdes College following a stint directing Lourdes' bachelor of individualized studies program. She would later serve for four years as the Sylvania Franciscans' assistant congregational leader and for four years as the director of a spousal-abuse center in Prestonburg, Ky.

She took office as the 348-member Sylvania convent's leader - then known as the minister general, now called congregational minister - in June, 1992 and served the maximum of two four-year terms allowed by the community's constitution.

Sister Diana Lynn Eckel, who was a member of the Franciscans' governing council during Sister Ruth Marie's first term and had been her administrative assistant when she was assistant superintendent, said Sister Ruth Marie had a leadership style others wanted to emulate.

"If she saw something in you, she challenged you, she called you forth," Sister Diana Lynn said. "... She was a brilliant woman. She had a mind that never stopped."

Sister Jeanette said a highlight of Sister Ruth Marie's leadership was the Sylvania Franciscans' construction of their two hermitages, which were made available not only to clergy but also to lay members of the community for spiritual retreats.

After leaving office, she ministered to the poor in Kentucky before returning several years later to Sylvania yet again as campus art curator at the motherhouse.

Sister Ruth Marie is survived by a brother, David Kachelek, and a sister, Gloria Mohr.

A welcoming service will be held Monday at 6 p.m. in Our Lady Queen of Peace Chapel, followed by visitation until 8 p.m. Visitation will resume at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday up to a funeral service at 4 p.m.

The Thomas I. Wisniewski Funeral Home, Toledo, is handling arrangements.

Memorial tributes may be made to the Sisters of St. Francis, Sylvania.

This is a news story by David Patch. Contact him at dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.