Sister Margaret Boehm, FSE

Sister Margaret Boehm, FSE, Dies in Lowell, Michigan

LOWELL, MI (05-16-2006) Sister Margaret Boehm, FSE, 87, a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist, died Tuesday, May 16, in Lowell, Michigan. She was born on January 13, 1919, in Halder, Wisconsin, to Henry and Mary Boehm. As a young adult, she entered the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, La Crosse, Wisconsin. She made her first profession of religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in 1938 and her final profession in 1944. Sister Margaret enjoyed 68 years as a consecrated religious woman.

From 1938 to 1973 she served in the Franciscan order's missions in La Crosse, Sparta and Superior, Wisconsin, and in Spokane, Washington, after which she became a founding member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and lived in Madison, Wisconsin, Portland and Bridal Veil, Oregon and for the past two months in Lowell, Michigan.

Sister Margaret specialized in food service management. She held food service manager positions at St. Rose Convent, St. Francis Hospital, Viterbo College Marian Hall and St. Joseph Villa in La Crosse. In Oregon, Sister Margaret served in similar capacities at Providence Child Center and Park Forest Care Center from 1975 until she moved into a new full-time project at the Bridal Veil Franciscan center.

Sister Margaret combined her talent for exquisite food preparation with the setting of the Bridal Veil Franciscan center on the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway to initiate a program of Franciscan hospitality, named "Franciscan Villa" which became well known in the Portland area. "Villa experiences" included Sister Margaret's elegant luncheons, Sister Mary Michael Costello's delightful stories and informative tours of the center's beautiful, historic house and gardens, and time for meeting, prayer or retreat. Elegant presentations of food and gracious hospitality became her trademarks. Area groups and residents soon discovered the need to make reservations far in advance once the Franciscan Villa service caught on. Sister Margaret believed that meals were a preparation for participation in the Sacred Banquet of the Eucharist, and thus needed to be prepared and served with utmost care and reverence.

Sister Margaret was the inspiration behind the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist's publication of Franciscan Heritage Cookbook. She personally tested and selected each recipe in the book, and spent untold hours of labor to make the project a success.

At times when unexpected guests arrived at the Sisters' center, she was known to quietly excuse herself, go out to the chicken pen, and minutes later a fresh chicken from the Sisters' flock would be cooking on the stove. She graciously provided meals for hundreds of persons who stopped in for a visit or came to volunteer their services at the center.

After suffering from various health problems, Sister Margaret asked to move to Lowell, Michigan, in March 2006, where her sister, Sister Ann Boehm, had lived and was buried. She wanted to be buried in the same cemetery when her time came.

Sister Margaret is survived by her Community, the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and the Franciscan Brothers of the Eucharist; two brothers, Jerome Boehm and Gregory Boehm; and several nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Phil, Francis and Bernard, her sisters Sister Maria, FSPA, Sister Ann, FSE, and Veronica Schwartz, and seven Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and one Franciscan Brother of the Eucharist.

A vigil will take place on Tuesday, May 23rd, at the Annunciation Chapel of the Franciscan Life Process Center at 11650 Downes Street, Lowell, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. The Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary will be prayed at 5:30 p.m. and Evening Prayer will be prayed at 7:00 p.m. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 24th, at the Franciscan Life Process Center followed by burial in the Franciscan Cemetery. Sister Patricia Glass, FSE, Funeral Director, Meriden, Connecticut, and Roth-Gerst of Lowell are in charge of funeral arrangements.