Sister Rose Walter

NOVEMBER 25, 1913 - JUNE 20, 2007

Sister M. Rose Walter, OSF died on June 20, 2007, at Mount Assisi Convent in Pittsburgh, Pa. She was 93 and in her 77th year of religious life.

Sister was born Imelda Walter in McKees Rocks, Pa., to Frank and Anna (Vasilik) Walter. She attended St. Mark School in McKees Rocks and Mount Assisi Academy in Pittsburgh, Pa. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in education from Villa Maria College in 1941 and a master’s degree in education from Duquesne University in 1965.

Imelda entered our community in 1929 while attending Mount Assisi Academy. She made first vows in 1930 and final vows in 1936. In 1930, Sister began her first ministry assignment, teaching the primary grades at St. John the Baptist School in Barnesboro, Pa.

Over the course of nearly 50 years in the classroom, she taught in Catholic grade schools in the Pennsylvania towns of Pittsburgh, Northampton, Shenandoah, Tarentum, Canonsburg, Charleroi, Clymer, Creighton, Ellsworth, Erie and even in her own grade school in McKees Rocks. She also taught and served as librarian at our former Mount Assisi Academy before it closed in 1978.

She also served her religious community as a local minister, motherhouse coordinator, and housekeeping supervisor. A warm, gentle and peace-filled person, she is remembered by her Sisters in community as always greeting them with a beautiful smile and loving embrace.

“She showed remarkable concern for all guests and took great care in making everyone feel comfortable and welcome among us,” one Sister recalls.

A loyal fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates, Sister Rose enjoyed life’s simple pleasures — good food, good friends, family, window-shopping, and spectator sports. She also remained faithful to prayer until her death. Sister also spent a great deal of time with her great nieces and nephews, often tutoring them in reading and math.

Our Sisters revered her ability to keep moving, even as she got older. “We may not have thought it was important where she going in such a hurry,” one Sister remembers. “But, to Sister Rose, accomplishing what she needed to do was very important.”

Sister Rose is buried in St. Francis Cemetery at Mt. Assisi Place in Pittsburgh, Pa.