A memorial Mass for Sister Dorothy Venhaus, SSND, was celebrated Jan. 30 at the Theresa Center Chapel at Sancta Maria in Ripa in St. Louis. Sister Dorothy of the School Sisters of Notre Dame died Jan. 13 at the age of 96.
The second of three children, she was born to William and Adriana (Wecker) Venhaus in Olpe, Kansas, on May 27, 1928. She was baptized at St. Joseph Church in Olpe on May 30, 1928, and named Dorothy Mae. Her mother, who dreamed that Dorothy would play piano, died shortly after her brother was born. Her family moved in with the maternal grandparents who lived on a large farm.
Dorothy attended St. Joseph Grade School, which was staffed by the Franciscan Sisters. In her freshman year, her grandmother moved to St. Louis, where four of her daughters were living. Dorothy moved with her and lived at a home for working girls at St. Mary’s Hospital and worked at the hospital after school hours and on weekends. She attended Rosati-Kain High School, where she first encountered the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
After attending LeClerc College until the school closed, she realized a lifelong dream and entered the candidature at Sancta Maria in Ripa on Aug. 31, 1949. The following January, she was missioned to teach fifth and sixth grade children and high school music at St. Joseph in Cairo, Illinois. She entered the novitiate on Aug. 1, 1950, and received the name Alexis Marie in honor of her uncle who was a Franciscan priest. She professed first vows on Aug. 2, 1951, and final vows on Aug. 2, 1957. She later returned to her baptismal name.
Sister Dorothy earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from the former Notre Dame College in St. Louis in 1957; a master’s degree in music education from St. Louis Institute of Music in St. Louis in 1964 and a doctoral degree in music education from Washington University in St. Louis in 1971.
After profession of first vows, she returned to Cairo for six years. She also taught at St. Peter Grade School in Jefferson City and St. Mary in Cape Girardeau. She played the organ for school liturgies, was the children’s choir director and taught private music lessons after school. In 1965, she was called to Sancta Maria in Ripa to take her place in the music department at Notre Dame College and to be the organist and liturgist for the former St. Louis Province motherhouse community.
In the mid-1970s, Sister Dorothy became a member of the Retreat Team at the SSND Center for Spiritual Development at Notre Dame Hall on the campus of Saint Louis University. In 1982, she was assigned to St. Norbert Parish in Florissant as music and liturgy director. She also continued her ministry of spiritual direction.
Three years later, she taught music at Notre Dame Women’s College (now University) in Kyoto, until retirement in 1999. Returning to the St. Louis area, she served as music director and liturgist at St. Francis de Sales Parish, St. John the Apostle and St. Andrew Parish until 2015.
During her retirement years, she continued to give private piano lessons, served as a spiritual director and did volunteer work at Theresa Center. She sang in the University of Missouri-St. Louis community chorus and was a member of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, she was transferred to Veronica House, The Sarah Community, in Bridgeton, and in 2019 to Anna House. She entered hospice care in January.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Adriana and William Venhaus, her sister, Mary, and her brother, Adrian. Sister Dorothy requested a green (natural) burial and was buried on Jan. 16 at Sancta Maria in Ripa Cemetery.
