The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1920-04-07
ACADEMY and
;. H0SP|TALL0SE
MOTHER SUPERIOR
Pneumonia Results In Death
Life Was One of Unceasing
Toll ry.r humanity - Pion-
eer i, -slonary of the W.T..
ern Country.

The entire city and community is
saddened today by the death of Rev.
erend Mother Genevieve, the Mother
Superior in charge of the Academy
of st. Mary's of the Lake and of
the Mercy Hospital of this city, the
death of the venerable and esteemed
sister occurring last evening at $50
o'clock. Mother as she was rever-
emily know by everyone regardless of
creed or religion was taken ill, sup
posedly of influenza just a week ago
and her death resulted from pneu-
monia. Since Sunday last the deceas-
ed had been at nearly all time uncon-
scientious and death since then wis
expected momentarily. For the past
twenty-five years Mother Genevieve
has been a factor in the business,
charitable and religious life of Dew
ills Lake for it was in 1896 that she
opened and took charge Of St. Vincent
de Sales Hospital in this city, which
for years was the only hospital in
this part Of the state and which re-
manned in charge of the Mother Su-
perior and her good Sisters Of Mercvi
until 1902 when the new Mercy Hos
pital was built on it's present site and
which still remains one of the best !
hospitals in the state. It is a large
three story building with about fifty !
beds, including thirty two private
rooms, and is thoroughly modern in
every way. 1t was built at a cost of
approximately $4,000. It took great
executive ability, courage and faith in
the future to undertake the work of
building that hospital for Devils
Lake, then was but a city of 1900 peo-
pie or whereabouts and the, country
but sparsely settled.
But Mother Geneyieve was not sat-
isfied with her hospital work alone,
for she preferred educational work
and when in 1907 her school at Bel
court in the Turtle Mountains in this
state which the Mother had establish
ed in the year 1884 was destroyed by
fire, she decided to build an academy
at Devils Lake instead of rebuilding
at Belcourt and the result was that
she financed alone and built the Aca-
denny Of St. Mary's of the Lake as it
now stands near her Mercy Hospital
in this city. This she considered her
greatest work and necessitated an
outlay of approximately 100000 and
today there remains little or no in
d%ebtedness on these properties which
are held as the sisters are wont to
say "by the community an incorpor-
ated company, incorporated, differed
and managed entirely by the Sisters
of Mercy here. It is of interest to
note that Mother Geneveive was TAX
en i'll i'll the Academy and there she
died as it was not considered safe to
remove her to the hospital, but a few
hundred feet away.
At the Academy of St. Mary's of
the Lake are about one hundred and
fifty boarding school students and as
many more day pupils.
Previous to her location at Belcourt
Mother Genevieve was for a number
of years in charge of Sacred Heart
Academy at Lankton South Dakota
wlthher she was spert shortly after
she took the veil in the academy of the
Sisters of Mercy at Omaha. Nebraska
when she was still but ninteen years
of age. At Yankton Mother Genevieve
likewise won the love, respect and
esteem of everyone.
Mother Geneveive can be said to
have been one of the pioneer mission
aries of this western country. She
accomplished wonderful work, possess
sed keen foresight and executive alb
ility, yet was kind, loving and charit-
able to the extreme and at Devils Lake
and the surrounding country she lea
yes not only thousands but tens of
thouAnd who regardless of religious
belief mourn her as a mother. Those
who have been i'll at the hospital learn
ed to love her best because Of her
kindness and affection displayed in her
daily visits to their sick beds.
Mother Genevieve, or Rose Sheri-
dan as she was known by her fam
lily name, was born at St. Joseph Mis-
souri, sixty-nine years ago. Her ear
ly education was obtained in the local,
s%parochial schools there and when she
was sixteen years of age she entered
the Academy Of the Sisters of Mercy
at Omaha, Nebraska where she took
the veil in less than three years there
after. Her father was q brother of
the late General Phil Sheridan Of
Civil war fame, and Mother Geneyieve
was also a cousin of Bishoh James
.O'Reilly Of Fargo, North Dakota.
Most Of Mother Geneyieys' $ mmedi-
ate relatives are dead. Il she hadsliv-