| Summary: | with a number of them at the Indian Mission School at Stephan. His parents had moved there from Evansville, Indiana to work on the Mission in 1948. Father Mike was later stationed at Stephan from 1961 to 1966 and again from 1968 to 1969. He was chaplain at Flandreau Indian School from 1969 to 1970. During the year of 1970 to 1971, Father Mike went to St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a teaching certificate. He then went to Marty Indian Mission and became the Director from 1972 until coming to Belcourt in 1978. Since he had met many of the people from the Turtle Mountain area from high school and previous assignments, he was happy to come to St. Ann's to renew acquaintances. He has taught at the Turtle Mountain College and is involved with TEC. Turtle Mountain Religions and Priests Sister Marie Adele Monette (Gaspard) Sister Adele Monette, known as Sister Gaspard, was the daughter of Modeste Monette and Virginia Ritchotte. She was baptized the 12th of June 1881, in St. Joseph of Leroy, North Dakota, by Father L. Bonin, who was caring for the Mission of Pembina at that time. Mr. Monette died suddenly due to an accident in 1887. His daughters, Marie Adele and her sister, Julie, were then placed in an orphanage in Graceville, Minnesota where they also attended classes. Eventually Marie Adele went to live with a relative in Winnipeg. The pastor of St. Boniface noticed that Marie Adele no longer attended Catechism classes and had not as yet made her first Holy Communion. He insisted that her guardians place her under the care of the Grey Sisters. Adele was then 13 years old. From the moment she made her first Holy Communion, Mother Hamel, the Superior at that time, placed her as an aide in the kitchen. She had an old Sister teach her classes at night. Marie Adele always remained very much attached to this good Sister. Years passed; the child having become a young lady, wished to become a Sister. Mother Hamel, who always watched over her, received her into the novitiate of the Little Auxiliary Sisters on the 30th of November 1899. She was later permitted to make her Profession of Vows in 1902 on the 31st of July. Sister Adele Monette was assigned to work for several months at the Foundling Section of the Tache Hospital. Then in August of 1903, she received as her new assignment of religious obedience, to work at the very poor Mission of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, at Fort Totten, North Dakota. Here she was put in charge of the laundry. This position was not an easy one. On December 1926, a terrible fire reduced to ashes the church, school, and other buildings belonging to the Mission, with the exception of the laundry room of Sister Adele Monette. Recalled to St. Boniface, Sister Adele Monette devoted herself for some time (1927-1931) to the Tache Plospice, to the hospital in St. Boniface, and to Fort Frances, always taking care of the laundry and at times being cook as well. Finally in the month of September 1931, she was nominated to go to St. Vital Sanitorium. This was her last assignment, remaining there for 22 years. Sister Adele was a hard working Sister and one must remember that all her laundry work was done in poor conditions far from being anything like a modern laundry. She was a devoted, courageous, competent and faith-filled person. On the 13th of April, 1953, she retired to the infirmary of the Provincial House. July 31, 1962 she secretly celebrated her Diamond Jubilee. On November 1, 1962 she died. Her funeral was celebrated the 3rd of November 1962. Sister Adele Monette is considered the first Metis to become a religious Sister. Sister Anthony Davis In the year 1932, when she was in the 8th grade in St. Michael's at the Little Flower School, Elizabeth Davis began to dream of being a Sister. The school was staffed and cared for by the Grey Nuns and Benedictine Fathers from St. Meinrad's Archabbey in Indiana. The Grey Nuns had their motherhouse in St. Boniface, in Winnipeg, Canada. She read books about the saints especially St. Therese, the Little Flower, and thought perhaps she might become a Carmelite. She spoke to a priest about it, but her frailty was a barrier for her. One of her friends, a Grey Nun, invited Elizabeth to visit their motherhouse in Canada. A visit was arranged. There were so many nuns and Elizabeth met many kind Sisters. Yet, she felt this was not the place for her. At the end of the eighth grade, the Sisters and Father Ambrose asked three of the graduates if they would like to go to high school in Marty, South Dakota. Elizabeth was one of the three. After the young students arrived, they became lonesome. Lack of trees, dust storms and eventually 73 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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