Dominican Sisters celebrate longest-lived community member with a sock-hop
About the photo: Sister Elise Bocke, second from right, celebrates her birthday with her nephew Joe Bocke, her niece Mary Ann Vahle, and Joe's wife Janice. Sister Rose Marie Riley, decked out in a ginger wig and sunglasses, emcees the party.
Just two months after the U.S. officially declared war on Germany in 1917, baby Elizabeth Christine Bocke was born in Quincy to Bernard and Emma Hacker Bocke in Quincy, Ill.
She was the youngest of eight children born to the couple and the second to become a Dominican Sister of Springfield known as Sister M. Elise. Her sister, Sister M. Annette Bocke, two years her senior, died in 2011.
Sister Elise joined the Dominicans at the age of 20 in 1937 and made her profession of vows in 1939.
Sister Elise had a remarkable life as a Dominican Sister, continuing to serve in active ministry as a reading specialist at St. Edward Parish, Chicago, until she was 93.
In the Chicago archdiocese she served as a curriculum consultant for the archdiocesan schools and taught at St. John Bosco, Our Lady of Grace, St. Walters, and Marian Catholic High School. In the Springfield diocese she taught at St. Agnes and Christ the King in Springfield. She also served in the diocese of Rockford at St. Peter & Paul in Cary and at Rosary High School, Aurora.
When it was time for her to leave active ministry she told Joe, “I don’t want to leave here. They want me to quit work.” “Well, she was 93 years old!”
Her nephew and niece, Joe Bocke and Mary Ann Vahle, and Joe’s wife Janice, were present at the sock-hop-themed party thrown in Sister Elise’s honor this afternoon by the sisters and coworkers at Sacred Heart Convent.
Sister Rose Marie Riley, prioress at Sacred Heart Convent, was decked out in a ginger wig and orange polka dot skirt in keeping with the party theme. She, told the gathered sisters, coworkers, and family of Sister Elise, “When I went in to Sister Elise’s room this morning to wish her happy birthday, she asked me ‘How do you know?’ I said ‘everybody knows It’s your birthday!’”
Joe Bocke and Mary Ann Vahle said they carry a lifetime of memories of their much-loved aunt. “One of my first memories of her was when she was the first principal of Christ the King here in Springfield,” Joe said. She was principal there, 1958-1964.
“I remember her last assignment, too,” he added. “She’s 90-some years old and she’s teaching in the heart of Chicago.” When it was time for her to leave active ministry there, at St. Edward School on Chicago’s north side, she told Joe, “I don’t want to leave here. They want me to quit work.” “Well, she was 93 years old!” Joe laughed.
Though her aunt was never stationed for ministry in Quincy, Mary Ann remembers that Sister Elise often spent summers in her hometown, living at St. Dominic convent and updating her education credentials at Quincy University. “My kids were in drum corps so I was never home but I happily gave her the use of my car.”
Joe’s wife Janice recalled the time family members brought their infant to St. Edward’s Convent, expecting that Sister Elise would love to baby sit while the parents enjoyed an outing on Lake Michigan. The young couple didn’t realize, however that their great aunt, the youngest child in her family, had never changed a diaper. “She had to learn!” Janice said with delight.
Sister Elise is the longest-lived Dominican Sister of Springfield, having outpaced Sister Agnes Clare Graham, who died in 2002 at the age of 104.
The Dominican Sisters of Springfield are part of a worldwide Dominican family, the Order of Preachers. For more than 800 years, Dominicans have preached the Gospel in word and deed. The Springfield Dominicans were established in Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1873 and relocated to Springfield in 1893. Today, thousands of Dominican sisters, nuns, priests, brothers, associates, and laity minister in more than 100 countries around the world.
