Gertrude Marie Heltz
January 1, 1918 - April 1, 1997"O compassionate Lord Jesus, give her rest, O Lord..."
She will be missed. In recent years it was "Stevie" who volunteered to answer the door on special occasions, a significant service at the motherhouse. If the occasion was a wake, she would keep vigil at the door while praying the traditional beads of the dead, "O compassionate Lord Jesus, give her rest O Lord..."
It was Stevie who took responsibility for collecting newspapers for Metairie Manor, partly out of admiration for Sr. M. Aloysius, whom she rightly saw as "a real community sister." She will be missed by her many friends at the Metairie Manor bingo. Sr. Therese Leckert pointed out at the wake that Sister died on a Tuesday. Nothing less could have kept her from her weekly bingo, but as Therese said, Stevie, so often a winner, "won big" this time.
She was social, a confirmed extrovert, and focused on people rather than things. No secrets, nothing hoarded. Her frequent winnings were given away as quickly as they came to her.
She was first in the congregation to submit to an oral history interview on the camcorder, delighting in seeing herself immediately afterwards on the TV.
She came from a rural family on the German coast of the Mississippi River. Her mother did not object to her helping the sisters in Paulina or to her entrance at eighteen because "she had so many girls." Her brother and all four of her sisters attended the funeral on Thurs, April 3.
Her formal education was limited; it was Sister M. Matthew Mulhern who encouraged her and she in turn never flagged in her devotion to Sr. M. Matthew, helping her with the closing of venerable St. John's in 1958, and tenderly nursing her through terminal cancer until her death in 1963.
As cook at St. John's she was entrusted from time to time with a child whose mother could make no day care arrangements. Several of her charges spoke only Spanish. It was her job to teach them English as a second language, and she was proud of her success as a teacher.
She learned to cook only after she entered, and described on video how a neighbor at St. Agnes initiated her into piecrusts. A master storyteller and something of a natural dramatist, she demonstrated the pinching of the edges of the crust as she vividly recalled her first pastry lessons. When Sister M. Ursula Cooper died, it was Sister M. Stephen who took over the massive task of baking fruit cakes for every sister's doctor, all benefactors and many friends of the community.
Care for the poor and the sick seemed to be part of her nature, up to the very end. The song "We are made for service" could have been written for her. "When I was hungry, you gave me to eat..." said Jesus. She did. None of us is perfect, but those who knew Sister Mary Stephen believe she has a welcome into the kingdom prepared for those who love God.
