Sister M. Ernestine (Josephine) Jeck, FDC Holy Family Province
Born: Born: Oct. 16, 1916 New York City
Entered: Sept. 5, 1930 St. Joseph Hill Staten Island, NY
Received: Aug. 28, 1934 St. Joseph Hill Staten Island, NY
First Profession: Aug 5, 1936 St. Joseph Hill Staten Island, NY
Perpetual Profession: Aug. 25, 1942 St. Joseph Hill Staten Island, NY
Died: May 20, 2012 Carmel Richmond Home, Staten Isl.
Josephine Jeck was born in New York City in the early years of the twentieth century. She was baptized in St. Joseph’s Church in Yorkville and lived on East 78th Street with her parents, Peter and Magdalena Wagner and her older brother and sister.
When she was only one year old, their tranquil family life was shattered by the death of their father in a tragic accident.
In order to support her children, Mrs. Jeck went to work and so took little Josephine to day nursery. But, God already had his plan for her future in motion. When she was five, a friend told her mother that the Sisters who operated St. Mary’s Residence for Women on East 72nd Street were opening a boarding school on what was then a rural Staten Island.
Little Josephine was enrolled and eventually became a member of the first graduating class of St. Joseph Hill Academy. In 1934, drawn by the example of the Sisters who had raised and educated her, she became a novice in the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Charity with the name Sister Mary Ernestine.
Her first teaching assignment after religious profession was in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Subsequently she taught in several schools in the East and Midwest. In 1952 she returned to St. Joseph Hill and there are women today who have happy memories of Sister Ernestine as their third or fourth grade teacher. Those who experienced her kindness in their early years were happy when Sister was assigned to the high school faculty in 1958.
During her entire career, her primary objective was to teach her students about God’s love for them and to foster a personal relationship with Jesus.
Sister Ernestine’s family was always very important to her and she delighted in attending family gatherings and receiving visits, phone calls and letters from them.
After receiving a degree in Library Science, her “station” became the library in the newly built high school. Besides the ordinary service of a librarian, we can compare her God-given “mission” there to an anchorite in 4th Century England. In a room attached to the church in Norwich lived Dame Julian who shared the wisdom, fruit of her prayer and contemplation with all who came to her window. Her chief message from the Lord for those dark medieval days was, “All will be well, all manner of things will be well!” So, the faculty and students who had occasion to enter the library and stop by Sister Ernestine’s desk received a smile and kind words that assured them that God’s love would be the solution to all that was troubling them. All this happened quietly and unassumingly, appreciated only in the accumulation of hundreds of friends sharing memories over the years.
We hope that Sister Ernestine’s smile is now glowing with the sight of the Lord who loved her throughout her long life and that she will be present to us with her prayers as we try to be, like her, messengers of God’s abiding love and care. All of us, sisters, family and friends, thank God for the gift of the life of this lovely sister!
R.I.P.
Sister M. Caroline Bachmann FDC
Compiled from various sources
