A to Z April Challenge: Z is for Sister Zoe

My theme for the A to Z April Challenge is “In-Laws and Out-Laws – Friends of the Family.”  I will be researching friends, colleagues, neighbors - those people who came and went touching my family’s lives in both small and large ways. 

is for Zoe.  Sister Zoe. 

When I was born, my mother gave me my first name; my father gave me my middle name.  He named me for Sister Zoe, his favorite teacher at St. Joseph’s Academy (later Portsmouth Catholic).  For years I have bragged about being named for Sister Zoe whose portrait hangs at Oasis, the local soup kitchen that she founded.  All the neighborhood churches take turns providing meals daily for the homeless and anyone else in need of a hot meal.  When my Sunday School class served lunch one time, I pointed to the portrait of Sister Zoe there on the wall and confided to several friends, “Yes, I was named for her.”

Former location of Oasis
There's even a "we've moved" sign.

Turns out I was a liar.

But I didn’t mean to be.  When I started my research in preparation for a post about Sister Zoe, I found an obituary for Sister Zoe Wheeler.  While the details covered her teaching career, there was no mention of Oasis, but I didn’t think anything of it since the writer might not have known nor intended to include all of her accomplishments.  You know how humble nuns can be.

Next I called a friend who is still very active at St. Paul’s Catholic Church where Sister Zoe had served.  She checked a book about the church’s history for any additional information to help flesh out this story.  It turns out the founder of Oasis was actually Sister Zoe Hyland, not Sister Zoe Wheeler.   

When I found Sister Zoe Hyland’s obituary, the dates of her service in Portsmouth beginning in 1951 didn’t match the dates when Daddy was a school boy in the late 30s-mid 40s. 

Former St. Joseph's Academy in Portsmouth
now an apartment building

There was nothing left to do but whine and grumble to my sister about the dilemma of how to write about Sister Zoe when nothing made sense.  Mary Jollette read Sister Zoe Wheeler’s obituary and solved the mystery right away.  She recalled Daddy saying that Sister Zoe’s birth name was Theresa.  And there it was:   “Zoe Wheeler (Theresa Barr Wheeler), Daughter of Charity, 80, died May 5, 1999 at St. Louise House, Albany, NY.”

Ta Da!  While “MY” Sister Zoe wasn’t the one of soup-kitchen-fame, they had much in common.  Both received their education at St. Joseph’s College in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  Both joined the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul, an apostolic society dedicated to service to the poor.  Both taught school for a time in Portsmouth and at Immaculate Conception parochial school in Maryland. 

from Google Images
Two habits of Daughters of Charity
Left:  modern design by Christian Dior
Right:  traditional that was abandoned
due to vision and hearing problems
associated with the cornet
(Do you think this was the inspiration
for "The Flying Nun"?)

“MY” Sister Zoe came from a family that must have been one strong and devout Catholic family.  Theresa Barr Wheeler was the youngest of seven daughters born to Ferdinand and Nina Barr Wheeler in New York.  Two of them married.  Five of them devoted their lives to the church.  Sister Mary Cecelia was a Religious of the Sacred Heart (considered the female equivalent of the Jesuits); Sister Madeleine, Sister Jean Marie (Suzanne Wheeler), and Sister Elaine (Anne Lenore Wheeler) were Daughters of Charity like Sister Zoe.  Their cousin Ferdinand Wheeler was a Jesuit priest.  You know the Wheelers had to have been the envy of every other family in their parish!

Sister Zoe entered the community of Daughters of Charity in 1937.  In 1940 she was living and teaching at the St. Catherine Orphanage in Reading, Pennsylvania.  It must have been shortly afterwards that she went to Portsmouth to join other Daughters of Charity who had assumed the staffing of the parochial schools, replacing the Xaverian Brothers.   

In her obituary, Sister Zoe is described as “an innovative and creative teacher, a clear-headed administrator and an energetic community builder.”  I bet that’s what Daddy liked about her.

Sister Zoe - Theresa Barr Wheeler

May 9, 1918 Bronx, New York - May 5, 1999 Albany, New York

Zip, zoom, or zigzag over to the A to Z April Challenge zone for zillions of zesty zingers by zealous zanies before they are zapped.  But the challenge is now over, so it’s time for me to catch some zzzzzzzzzzzz’s.

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.