S. Gabriella Baumberger OSB, 91, died on February 7, 2013. A wake service will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 10, 2013, and the funeral Mass will be celebrated on Monday, February 11 at 11:00 a.m., both in Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel in Yankton. Burial will be in the monastery cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of the Wintz & Ray Funeral Home in Yankton.
Rosella Ann was born October 10, 1921, the tenth of eleven children of Rudolph and Mary (Bowen) Baumberger of Colton, South Dakota. She went to Grinde Country School, Colton Public School, and graduated high school from St. Mary’s Academy, Dell Rapids, South Dakota.
Rosella Ann left the family farm and entered Sacred Heart Monastery on September 1, 1939. She was invested as a novice on June 23, 1940 and received the name Gabriella. She made her first profession on June 24, 1941 and her final profession on June 24, 1944. She attended Mount Marty College, Yankton, South Dakota and received her degree in elementary education in 1959.
S. Gabriella served as an elementary teacher for forty-one years. She taught primary grades in Epiphany, Tabor, Hoven, Salem, Yankton, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Richardton, North Dakota; Lincoln, York, St. Paul, and Omaha, Nebraska. In Salem, she was the principal as well as a primary teacher. She spent a year as a ward clerk at St. Thomas More Hospital, Canon City, Colorado, but returned to teaching. After retiring from teaching, she volunteered for the Development Office and College Relations at Mount Marty College, and in the Monastery Print Shop. She was an accomplished Calligrapher and graciously did projects for those who asked.
S. Gabriella remembered her students with great affection, and kept lists of names for every class she taught. She was known for her teaching children to read with great expression. Born with a physical disability, she never wavered in her enthusiasm to live an active life though her life was marked by surgeries. She was also very devoted to her family and her home parish, St. Joseph’s, Huntimer, South Dakota.
S. Gabriella is survived by her Benedictine community and her nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and all her ten siblings. http://www.wintzrayfuneralhome.com