A funeral Mass for Sister Marie Esther Becker, SSND, was celebrated March 14 at Theresa Center chapel at The Sarah Community in Bridgeton. Sister Marie Esther died Feb. 27 at Anna House at The Sarah Community. She was 88.
She was the fourth child born to Esther (Prenger) and Vincent Becker on Nov. 12, 1936, in Jefferson City. She was baptized on Nov. 22, 1936, at St. Peter Church in Jefferson City and named Mary Dolores. The family would eventually grow to six children. Her mother told Mary that when she was a baby, she took her to St. Peter Church and knelt before the statue of the Blessed Virgin and prayed that Our Lady would protect her child.
Mary entered kindergarten at St. Peter Grade, staffed by the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND). During that year, her mother was hospitalized and began a two-year battle with cancer. Her mother passed away when Mary was 7 years old. Following that loss, Mary’s school work suffered and she grew to dislike school. Her father eventually remarried Alberta, the sister of Mary’s mother.
From her brothers, Mary acquired a love for sports. In her junior year, she played on the Jeff City All Star Softball team. She became interested in teaching younger children how to play ball. She also learned about the orphanage that the SSND had in New Orleans. Having lost her mother at an early age, she had great empathy for orphans. She experienced a desire to give her life to God and to help others. With the assistance of the sisters at St. Peter, arrangements were made for her to enter the candidature after her junior year. The night before entrance, she played on the Jeff City Women’s Softball team, winning the championship in Columbia.
The next evening, on Aug. 26, 1953, she received the candidate’s bonnet at St. Peter Church and went to Sancta Maria in Ripa the following morning.
After a week of training, she was sent to teach third grade at St. Gabriel School in St. Louis. She completed her senior year by taking classes on weekends at Sancta Maria in Ripa. She was received into the novitiate on July 31, 1954, and given the name Marie Esther, in honor of her deceased mother. She professed first vows on Aug. 1, 1955, and final vows on Aug. 1, 1961.
Sister Marie Esther received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the former Notre Dame College in St. Louis in 1969. She was hoping to work with orphans; however, she spent the next 57 years in classroom teaching. Following profession, she was missioned to Holy Family in Freeburg, Illinois. As the youngest sister at this mission, she taught first and second grades, did the daily sacristy work, taught the servers the Latin prayers, watched the bus children and also helped with laundry, housework and other chores. She remained at this mission for 10 years until 1965.
Her next assignment was at St. Joseph in Cairo, Illinois. In the mid-1960s, this city experienced many racial tensions, and Sister Marie Esther learned much about prejudice. After seven years, she was missioned to Our Lady of Loretto in St. Louis for four years and then returned to St. Gabriel for eight years. From 1984-2012, she taught at her home parish, St. Peter School in Jefferson City. During this time, she was able to help care for her parents before they died and was close to three brothers. From 2009-12, she was a remedial reading teacher at the Vogelweide Learning Center in Jefferson City, working with children with special needs. In 2012, she came to Theresa Center and performed community service. She retired to Veronica House, The Sarah Community in 2019. As her health declined, she was transferred to Anna House in June 2023.
Sister Marie Esther was preceded in death by her parents, Esther and Vincent Becker; her sister Katherine Herman; her brothers Bernard (Helen), Brother Marvin FSC, Robert (Cecilia) and her half-brother John (Linda). She is survived by relatives, friends, School Sisters of Notre Dame and SSND associates.
Interment was in the Sancta Maria in Ripa cemetery.
