Date of death: 4/3/2012
Saint Meinrad Class: SS 1980
Born January 14, 1923 in Mahnomen, MN, Eleanor Katharine was the second of fourteen children in the family of John and Elizabeth (Illies) Mueller. After receiving her elementary education at St. Michael’s School in Mahnomen, she attended Mount Saint Benedict Academy in Crookston and graduated from the Cathedral High School as valedictorian of her class. In 1940 she joined the Sisters of Saint Benedict, and made her final monastic profession in 1944. Sister Eleanor attended Mount Marty College in Yankton, SD, and served as a teacher in the parochial schools of Rosen, MN and Lefor, ND. After earning bachelor of science degrees in home economics, mathematics and biology from Mount Marty College, she taught at Sacred Heart High School, East Grand Forks. Having earned master degrees in education and administration from Notre Dame University and St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana, she served as administrator and teacher at Mount Saint Benedict High school, Crookston, for sixteen years. Later, she directed the student residence hall at the Mount, as well as the vocation and initial religious formation programs at the monastery. From 1976 to 1980, and again from 1984 to 1988, she served as Director of Religious Education at Holy Rosary Parish in Detroit Lakes, where she also served on the Holy Rosary pastoral council and on the governing board at St. Mary’s Hospital. Returning to Crookston, Sister Eleanor was assigned to be Director of maintenance and purchasing at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery while at the same time, serving terms on the sisters’ council, the planning committee and the staff of the ministry school at Mount Saint Benedict Center. In 1989 the Crookston Benedictines chose Sister Eleanor to serve as the eighth prioress of Mount Saint Benedict Monastery, a position she held for a term of four years. Under her guidance, the Crookston Benedictines let go of many things, among them their original monastery building which was rendered unsafe by shifting sub-soil. Even before the dust from demolition had settled, the promise of new life appeared as the framework of a new one-story wing began to rise under the discerned guidance of the prioress. Sister Eleanor took the occasion to remind her sisters of the significance of the building project. As we watch the old give way to the new, we are reminded that we too are in need of constant renewal…” On August 5, 1993, she passed the leadership of the community into the hands of her successor, Sister Michelle McGurran. In her parting address to the community, Sister Eleanor reminded her sisters: “We will not be remembered for our buildings or the beauty of our charism statement. We will be remembered by how well we did or did not live out what we profess to be, how well we truly live by the Spirit.”Sister Eleanor was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Bernard, Cyril and John, and sisters Helen Whetsel, Theresa Partridge and Christina Runger. She is survived by her brothers August, Vernon, Robert, Richard and James, and her sisters Dorothy (Pavlik) and Marian (Wolff) and by the members of her monastic community.Reception of the body for Sister Eleanor will be at 4:45, p.m. Monday, April 9, with visitation until the wake service at 7:00. The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday April 10, 2012. All services will be at Sacred Heart Chapel, Mount Saint Benedict Monastery, 620 Summit Ave., Crookston, MN. Memorials are preferred to Mount Saint Benedict Foundation.From Crookstontimes.com”