Sr. TurkA funeral Mass for Sister Charles Ellen Turk was celebrated Jan. 7 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. Sister Charles Ellen died on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, at Mother Theodore Hall in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. She was 101 years old and had been a Sister of Providence for 84 years.
Born in Washington, Indiana, Sister Charles Ellen entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence on Jan. 11, 1936, professed her first vows on Aug. 15, 1938, and her final vows on Aug. 15, 1944. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and a master’s degree from Indiana State University.
She ministered in education for 47 years in schools in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. Fifteen of those years were as a principal. In the Archdiocese of St. Louis, she was principal of Our Lady of Providence School from 1955-58. Later in the 1980s, she served as a provincial treasurer for four years in Indianapolis. She resided in Indianapolis until 1998, ministering in a variety of ways. She then moved to the motherhouse, where she continued to serve, especially in the sewing room. By 2008, she dedicated herself to a ministry of prayer.
Burial was in the cemetery of the Sisters of Providence in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.