 Sister Mary Paul Gerard Gustafson, SNJM
Wilma Edwina Gustafson
September 13, 1926–September 24, 2010 (Los Gatos, CA)
Sister Mary Paul Gerard Gustafson, who taught in Oakland, California, at Holy Names High School, her alma mater, for 17 years, died September 24 at the Convent of the Holy Names in Los Gatos, California. She was 84 years of age and had been a vowed member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary for 60 years. An Oakland native and graduate of Holy Names College (now University), she is being fondly remembered by former students and faculty for her ability to make geometry and science come alive.
Wilma Gustafson was born on September 13, 1926 in Oakland, California to Mary Margaret Galbraith and Edwin Gustafson. She was the youngest of three girls, following after her sisters Margaret, known to almost everyone as “Monet”, and Jean. Wilma would be known to family and friends as “Willy.”
Edwin Gustafson was a convert to Catholicism. He met Mary in San Diego when he was drafted for World War I and Mary’s cousin was his tent mate. They were married in 1917 and started their family in Alameda. When Wilma was in the 5th grade, the family moved to the three-story home in Oakland just up the street from Holy Names High School and Marylrose Elementary School, where Wilma completed her elementary and high school education. There the Gustafson family would stay until after Monet’s death. Wilma was very close to her father and inherited his fun-loving and people-loving nature. She also very much loved her grandfather, who lived on a farm in San Diego, where little Willy was allowed to drive the tractor during summers there.
Wilma’s association with the Sisters of the Holy Names started even before the family’s move to Oakland. She and her sisters came from Alameda to attend Saturday art classes at Holy Names High School taught by Sister M. Anselma Hitchcock. During her years at Marylrose and Holy Names High School, her admiration for the Holy Names Sisters would continue to grow, and she soon felt a call to enter religious life. Her parents, however, asked her to wait until after college, which she did, graduating from Holy Names College on the shores of Lake Merritt with a B.A. in Biology. She would later receive her MS degree from Oregon State University in 1968.
Father O’Kelly, Pastor of St. Theresa’s Parish in Oakland, said the following in his letter of recommendation to Mother Margaret of Cortona, Provincial Superior: “Giving a letter of recommendation to Wilma Gustafson of this parish is almost superfluous except to fulfill the requirements. I have for some years looked forward to her entry into religion because she seemed to me to personify exactly those qualities of mind and heart that are so requisite in the religious life. She will, I am sure, adorn your community as she has this parish by her
example. I wish her every success and shall follow her progress with interest.”
And so it was that Willy entered the Sisters of the Holy Names at the “old College” on July 22, 1948. As a postulant, she was sent to teach at Sacred Heart Elementary School in Oakland, which she referred to in her notes as “a disaster.” After the novitiate – now bearing the religious name, Sister M. Paul Gerard -- she began her 46-year ministry in secondary education, teaching several times at Holy Names High School, as well as at Marin Catholic, St. Monica, St. Bernard, and Ramona Convent High Schools. She was greatly loved by students and colleagues alike. After retirement from the classroom, she continued to teach, sharing her extraordinary teaching skills and her warm, encouraging presence as a volunteer math tutor at Next Step Learning Center in West Oakland. Here she helped low-income Oakland youth and adults overcome their fear of math and achieve their GED. One of her grateful GED students dubbed her “the math queen.”
After hearing the news of Sister Paul Gerard’s death, messages from former students spoke with great affection of her influence on their education and their lives. Comments included the following: “She was a humble, yet great teacher, and such a genuinely good and warm person. She even made me love geometry!” “She was kind and very caring. She really nurtured us all and I will always appreciate that.”
Colleagues and Sisters in community spoke of Sister Paul Gerard’s goodness, generosity, and thoughtfulness – often expressed in the form of sharing her great culinary talents. Several Sisters spoke of her kindness at times of family illness or loss. Present in the family home as a Sister’s companion, she would slip into the kitchen and prepare a delicious and comforting meal for all present. Among other reflections from colleagues and Sisters were these: “Her smile, her twinkle and her groundedness are images I will savor.” “Not only was she fun to be around, but she was exceedingly generous with her talents.” “She helped make the connections between science and everyday life. She could repair almost any household appliance and on more than one occasion saved families a little money by fixing a broken
lamp or finding a blown fuse.”
Well known for her wonderful sense of humor, Sister Paul Gerard could laugh at herself, too. She could chuckle at her own faux pas, and was famous for the malapropisms that would generate peals of laughter. One of these happened when she was browsing in a grocery or drug store. When a clerk approached and asked if she needed assistance, Sister Paul Gerard smiled graciously, and answered, “No thanks, I’m just shoplifting!” She was also known for her tendency to switch initial syllables of words. Once, in her science
classroom, she was working with a student with a long cord on a science project and wanted the student to follow her directions, which were, “Let your end fring sweely.” When the student didn’t comply, she repeated, loudly and clearly, “LET YOUR END FRING SWEELY!” When the puzzled student still didn’t react, Sister Paul Gerard realized what she had said and broke into contagious laughter.
Though considered by her students to be an excellent educator, Sister Paul Gerard never felt that she was a good teacher. In her reflections during the Liturgy of Resurrection on September 29, Sister Margaret Spiller put it this way: “She was a superior teacher, but in her shyness, and possibly because of her one year as a postulant teaching in elementary school and a painful year of trying to teach mechanical drawing and art to some less-thanmotivated boys at Marin Catholic – subjects she knew very little about – she was careful never to claim that she actually TAUGHT a class; she always said she was ‘occupied with student groups’ instead. She never felt she was good enough and nobody dreaded being observed in the classroom more than she. But she always had time to tutor a struggling student or help a new teacher. She made chemistry, biology, and math understandable, and helped students make connections between science and everyday life.”
In her reflections, Sister Margaret also highlighted Sister Paul Gerard’s utter goodness, her prayerfulness, her strong sense of responsibility, her ability to connect others, her talent for making friends in every arena of her life, and her great loyalty to those friends. Sister David Emmanuel Paula gave the reflection on the Word, which she described as a Scriptural kaleidoscope, using five brief passages to form a portrait of Sister Paul Gerard. The last of these passages was Luke 9:3: “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking
stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money and let no one take a second tunic.” Sister David described the ways in which Sister Paul Gerard embodied this passage. “Her poverty and simplicity of life were unquestioned and unparalleled. As late as this summer, it took a broken water main to convince her that having more than one nightgown was a good idea. Items she accumulated were for the sake of others: tools for the repair of anything you can imagine and recipes and cookbooks which gave rise to culinary accomplishments that could only be classified as gourmet.”
During the six years of dialysis that preceded her death, Sister Paul Gerard demonstrated enormous courage, and never lost the qualities of humor, caring, friendliness and gratefulness that had characterized the rest of her life. She was a blessing to other patients and to each of her caregivers.
Sister Margaret concluded her reflections with these words, which no doubt resonated in
the hearts of all gathered to celebrate the life of Sister Paul Gerard: “To so many of us, her
goodness and generosity made her a living demonstration of the goodness of God, and to be
around her was to know a little more of our loving God.”
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The Mass of Resurrection took place on September 29, 2010 in the chapel at Los Gatos. Two of her Jesuit friends, Rev. John Endres and Rev. Bill O’Neill – both faithful presiders at Liturgy at Holy Names High School and special favorites of Sister Paul Gerard – concelebrated. Sister Cynthia Canning welcomed the congregation on behalf of the East Bay Mission Center, of which Sister was a member. Sister David Emmanuel Paula offered the reflection on the Word and Sister Donna Maynard read the intercessions. Sister Margaret Spiller gave the reflections on Sister’s life. Sisters Margaret Spiller and Sister Miriam Irene Furrer, longtime friend of Sister Paul Gerard, blessed the casket with incense and Holy Water. Following the service, a reception was held in the Sisters’ dining room.
Sister Paul Gerard was buried at Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery in Hayward, California, on September 30, 2010. A large group of Sisters, friends, and former students participated in the final prayers at the Cemetery. |