Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sister Helena Smith, 96, passed away Sunday, Aug. 20 in the Holy Family Care Center in Victory Noll, Huntington, Ind. She was born Aug. 20, 1916, in New Oxford, Penn., to Stanislaus and Catherine Smith, the seventh in a family of 10 children. She entered the congregation of Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters on Oct. 28, 1939, and made her first vows on Aug. 5, 1942. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and a master’s degree in religious education. Sr. Helena served in missions in Utah, Indiana, Florida and California. Her first assignment in the Beehive State began in 1942, when she served a six-year ministry at Guadalupe Mission in Salt Lake City. In 1983 she returned to Utah, serving for 17 years at Saint Pius X Catholic Church in Moab. When she retired in 2000, Saint Pius parish hall was named after her. At the reception celebrating her retirement, Father Joseph Rooney, then the parish’s pastor, was full of praise for her. "There isn’t a single thing in this parish that isn’t the specific responsibility of the priest that Sr. Helena hasn’t done," Fr. Rooney said. "By my experience, she has kept this parish together." Upon her retirement at age 83, Sr. Helena had served 61 years of Church ministry. From Moab she went to her order’s motherhouse in Indiana. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Aug. 30. Burial was in Victory Noll Cemetery, Huntington, Ind.
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