Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 271116
Title: Mary "Sister Matthew" Walker
Date: 10/21/1939-3/9/2021
Inscription/Marks: 10/21/1939
Summary: Sister Mary Walker, 81, a member of Annunciation Monastery, Bismarck, ND, entered eternal life March 9, 2021, at St. Vincent’s Care Center where, related to a number of health conditions, Sister Mary had been a resident since 2009. In 2011 the monastic community celebrated 50 years of monastic profession with Sister Mary at St. Vincent’s. Mass of Christian burial was held March 13, 2021. Sister Mary, known as Sister Matthew in her first years as a Benedictine sister of Annunciation Monastery, was born in Mott, ND, on October 21, 1939, but grew up in Bismarck as the fourth of seven children born to William and Lillian (Behrenfeld) Walker. She was elected Governor of Girls State while a student at St. Mary’s High School and, after graduation, began college at Mount Marty in Yankton, SD. In the fall 1959, Sister Mary was among the first class of postulants to enter the newly completed Annunciation Priory (Monastery). Education continued at Mary College (University of Mary), at St. Louis University, MO, where she received her master’s degree in social work, and at Boston College, where she completed a master’s degree in theology. Earlier, as an instructor for six years at the Sisters’ Priory High School, Sister Mary often wrote and produced original Advent and Lenten dramas with students as the cast. Priory Highgraduates tell of these experiences as precious memories. Sister Mary calls her more than 20 years as assistant professor of Theology some of the best years of her life. Of this time she said, “I loved the opportunity to meet and teach so many wonderful students. I consider it a real honor to have been a part of their lives and feel it is of the utmost importance to honor the experiences we share with one another.” With a love of learning, Sister Mary was an avid reader and always had recommendations for a good book or sources of material for a particular topic when consulted. Her students remember her as “Sister Mary Handout” related to the many articles distributed for their study. Out of the riches gained through reading and experience, she wrote poetry and reflections, and had a great concern for the disheartened and despairing that resulted from violence and unjust conditions in our world. As former students remember, Sister Mary advised that they “pray the newspaper.” Her genuine interest in people brought Sister Mary to approach others new to her as an opportunity to meet an acquaintance or make a friend. Sister Mary is survived by her sisters, Wanda (Dennis) Doppler, Bismarck, Zona Easton, Edina, MN, and Dorothy (Jim Mowbray), Port St. Joe, FL; nieces and nephews; and the Sisters of Annunciation Monastery. She was preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Frances; and brothers, William “Billy Jack” and David.
Red ID: FND_I_78605 Image ID: 575985 Image Notes: FND001 271116

Collection: FND001 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Date: -

Summary: The North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program is sponsored by the North Dakota Funeral Directors Association. The life stories of deceased North Dakotans are featured in an archvied collection. Current partners in the project are Eastgate Funeral & Cremation Services, Bismarck Evans Funeral Homes, Carrington and New Rockford Everson-Coughlin Funeral Home, Williston Fulkerson Funeral Home, Tioga Fulkerson Funeral Home, Watford City Fulkerson Stevenson Funeral Home, Williston Nero Funeral Home, Bottineau Parkway Funeral Service, Bismarck Springan Stevenson Funeral Home, Stanley Stevenson Funeral Home, Dickinson These funeral homes provide recent obituaries to the Foundation, where staff and volunteers format, edit and archive each memorial. The memorials are posted, and copies are sent to the family for their input and approval. The listing currently features more than 13,000 memorials, and is constantly updated as new memorials and histories are received.

Enter a subject or term in one or both of the “Search” boxes.

  • “Item Detail” searches the Title, Creator and Summary fields of all item-level records.
  • “Collection Number” searches the Collection Number field only and requires an exact match.

The “DETAILS” button provides additional information about an item, as well as the following options:

  • “Collection Summary” details the contents of the entire collection in which the selected item is located.
  • You can print the image and its corresponding details by selecting “Print".
  • “Digitized Images from the Collection” returns a list of all digitized items within that collection (available from the “Collection Summary” screen).

Click on image to expand/zoom the image view.

“Photobook home” takes you back to the main Photobook page where you can start a new search.

“Featured Collections” showcases new and/or popular collections and the digitized images within those collections.

Information on how to order copies is located here.

The collections preserved in the North Dakota State Archives include over a million images. Only a small percentage of these images have been digitized. This photo gallery provides a preview of the images that have been digitized.

For more information on the non-digitized images, please refer to the finding aids found on our website at history.nd.gov, or ask a member of our reference staff for assistance.