Sister Donna Schauf, BVM
Sister Donna Schauf, BVM, (Blanche), 87, died Wednesday, April 30, 2025, at Mount Carmel Bluffs, 1160 Carmel Drive, Dubuque, Iowa.
Visitation, the Sharing of Memories and Mass of Christian Burial were on Friday, May 16, 2025. Burial was in the Mount Carmel cemetery. All funeral services are available: https://stream.prestosports.com/bvmsisters.
Sister Donna was born on July 25, 1937, in Wichita, Kans., to Walter and Ethel Rose (Somerhauser) Schauf. She entered the BVM congregation Sept. 8, 1955, from St. Joseph, Wichita, Kans. She professed first vows on Feb. 3, 1958, and final vows on July 16, 1963.
Sister Donna was a pastoral care minister at Marian Hall in Dubuque, Iowa. She ministered as an elementary teacher at St. Callistus in Chicago; St. Therese in Kansas City, Mo.; Sacred Heart in Boone, Iowa; and Sacred Heart and Corpus Christi Center in Fort Dodge, Iowa. She also served as principal at Holy Rosary in Fort Dodge, Iowa. She was director of David Preschool and a home tutor in David, Ky., and a Head Start teacher and family support aide in Steele, Mo. She also served as director of senior citizen ministry at St Joseph Parish and pastoral associate at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, both in Wichita, Kans.
“[In] 1993, Donna entered a Clinical Pastoral Education program . . . She asked to be assigned to floors with the most senior citizens with the hope of going into this ministry full-time. She shared, ‘Many years [earlier] while volunteering at Mount Carmel, I felt the tug of God to minister to our sisters in some way.’ Years later, Donna joined the pastoral care team at Mount Carmel. ‘The next eight years were filled with many graces and blessings. I grew in love of God, others and especially BVM community life with my sisters” (Eulogy.)
She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Gerald Schauf, and sister-in-law Jill Schauf. She is survived by a sister Sherry (Robert) Robben, Wichita, Kans.; a brother Thomas Schauf, Pahoa, Hawaii; nieces, nephews and the Sisters of Charity, BVM, with whom she shared life for 69 years.
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Sister Donna taught kindergarten to three of our children at the David Preschool in David, KY at a time when kindergarten wasn’t available locally and her teaching role included driving a van to pick the children up for school and dropping them off afterwards. She helped our oldest child overcome a stuttering problem and was quick to celebrate his counting skills with odd and even numbers. I’ll never forget him telling her, “But Sister Donna, that’s how you keep score in basketball!” She also taught him to read. She put together Christmas programs and graduation celebrations at no costs to the parents using simple supplies for costumes and graduation hats. She affirmed the children’s talents with written awards; our daughter, a gifted writer and graphic artist, got one for “Good Writing” in kindergarten. I can’t help wondering how much that early affirmation led to the later school and professional success. Our third child described his kindergarten experience at age 5 as “the most funnest thing was when we did Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer show. His graduation included a series of skits using nursery rhymes set to music and a rhythm band concert. A plaque awarded to Sister Donna that night commended her “gentle presence”, an apt description of how she positively introduced the children of our little rural community to education. Several of our children’s classmates went on to become teachers and, of the ones I know personally, her kind of gentleness permeates their work with children. Sister was a great comfort and guide to me as a young mother, and I suspect she was that to the other parents as well. May she rest in peace, and may her heavenly joy include knowing how greatly she influenced our lives and how dearly she is loved by us all!
Rest in peace, 🤗😍❤🙏😇 she will be sorely missed by this former student.