Isabelle Wedl decided to become a Benedictine sister one day when she was … No, that’s not right. Isabelle Wedl did not have a whole day to ponder her vocation. She had about a minute. She was a senior rushing to class at St. Boniface High School in Cold Spring, Minn., when Sister Martin Fiedler caught her on the stairway. S. Martin explained that the St. Cloud Hospital was offering a scholarship in medical technology and the faculty decided it should go to Miss Wedl. “Well, do you want it?” S. Martin wanted to know immediately, “Or do you plan to join the convent?”

S. Martin and St. Boniface High School have now gone the way of the mimeograph machine, but at age 95, Sister Lois Wedl is still with us. When someone asks her if she prayed a lot before deciding to enter religious life, she recalls that moment on the steps of St. Boniface High School and responds, “No, I didn’t pray at all about it.” She didn’t have time.

S. Lois entered Saint Benedict’s Monastery after high school graduation and made her first profession on July 11, 1951. In the 75 years since then, she has planted her heart in many places, beginning as a teacher and principal at Catholic schools in Sauk Rapids, St. Cloud and Long Prairie, all in Minnesota. In 1964, she went to Humacao, Puerto Rico, where she was a teacher, principal and superior of a developing Benedictine community. She returned to Minnesota in 1974 but still wears a Puerto Rico T-shirt now and then.

In 1986, having earned a doctorate in educational counseling and psychology, S. Lois began teaching at the College of Saint Benedict (CSB). On her first day at CSB, a student raised her hand and asked, “Sister, are you coming to our volleyball game tonight?” That invitation began a never-ending love affair between S. Lois and the sports teams at the college. She attended games, home and away, as often as possible. Now, in retirement, she either attends games or catches them on livestream. In 2021, the college named an athletic complex in her honor: The Sister Lois Wedl Athletic Center.

It would not be right to write about S. Lois without mentioning her fascination with Charlie Brown. She sends the daily Peanuts cartoon via email to numerous friends, and, in turn, her friends have peppered her with Peanuts paraphernalia.

Finally, it is time to identify S. Lois’ primary love: God, of course. When asked what she likes most about Benedictine life, she said that it fosters in her a “nearness to God.” But as she celebrates 75 years of faithfulness to monastic life, she said she thinks more and more about God’s faithfulness to her.

Jubilee profile written by Nancy Bauer, OSB