S. Paulette Larsen OSB

S. Paulette Larsen OSB, age 87, died on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. A wake service will be held at 7:00 PM, on Monday, January 13, 2025 and the Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 2:00 PM, on Tuesday, January 14, both in Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel in Yankton, South Dakota. Burial will be in the monastery cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of the Wintz & Ray Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Yankton. 

Rita Jean was born at home on April 27, 1937, the fourth child of William and Madelene (Schumacher) Larsen of Platte Center, Nebraska. She attended St. Joseph’s Parochial School and graduated from Platte Center High School. After high school, she worked for the Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company to earn money to go to nurses’ training. She began her training at Sacred Heart School of Nursing in Yankton, South Dakota in 1956. Rita joined Sacred Heart Monastery in August 1957. She became a novice on June 28, 1958, and received the name Paulette. She made her first profession on June 29, 1959, and final profession on June 29, 1962. She also completed her nursing education this same year.

S. Paulette spent her life of ministry in healthcare as a nurse and later a massage therapist. She was a nurse at St. Michael’s Hospital in Tyndall, South Dakota, Madonna Care Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, and St. Thomas More Hospital in Canon City, Colorado. Many years of her life were devoted to the care of the sick and elderly sisters in the St. Joseph’s Care Center at Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton, South Dakota as Infirmarian. Later, she became a massage therapist and assisted in countless ways in the restorative care of her monastic family.

S. Paulette was an empathetic, free-spirited person who enjoyed celebrating life at any moment when the opportunity presented itself. She loved planning parties for the sisters she lived with and for those in the Care Center. She was known to dress up in crazy hats or in a clown costume to bring festive cheer. She could putter for hours in her flower garden behind the monastery and with house plants often gathering flowers for a bouquet. She always treasured time spent with family and friends. She assisted many in their final earthly days with humor and grace offering the sick and dying her prayer in the form of comfort and care.

S. Paulette is survived by her Benedictine community, her sisters: Barbara and Inez, as well as several nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents and her sisters: Gurina and Marilyn.