Sister Patricia (Mary Benedict) Ostdick
June 3, 1930 to December 6, 2020
By Sister Charlaine Fill, SSND
Patricia Catherine Ostdick was born in Elgin, Illinois, on June 3, 1930, to Harry Joseph Ostdick and Margaret Elizabeth Balita (sometimes given as Rinus), both of whom had also been born in Elgin. She was the fifth born of eight children, and had 2 brothers and 5 sisters. One of her sisters was Sister Nadine Ostdick, who was provincial of the Chicago province from 1975-1983. Both Nadine and her older brother Rupert, OSB, had prayed that she, too, would have a religious vocation.
As she wrote in her autobiography, “Sports were enjoyed by our whole family and …we would often spend many an hour of whole-hearted fun by playing baseball, hide and seek, and even croquet. Lonesomeness never prevailed in our household for it contained a wholesome and happy family group.” She also expressed a desire to teach Black children, and “to care for old Sisters….It is in these people where I find true sanctity…My ideal and motto is to always go cheerfully wherever Divine Providence sends me.” (underlined in her autobiography)
Pat attended most of grade school at St. Mary School in Elgin, except for one year, when the family moved to Belvidere, Illinois, and she attended St. James School there. She then attended St. Edward High School in Elgin, until she entered the candidature of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1947. She was received there in July, 1949, receiving the name of Sister Mary Benedict, and was professed in 1950, taking her final vows in 1956.
Sister Mary Benedict continued her education over the years, and received a B.A. in Sociology at Mt. Mary College in Milwaukee in 1967, and a Master of Pastoral Studies in Communication Arts from Loyola University in Chicago, in 1980.
Sister Mary Benedict taught primary grades from 1950 to 1968 at schools which included St. Michael, Chicago; St. Anne, Amboy, Illinois; Holy Assumption, West Allis, Wisconsin; St. Margaret of Scotland, Chicago; and St. Alphonsus, Chicago.
Sister Patricia became a member of the DeKalb (later Chicago) province when it was founded in 1965. She taught intermediate and secondary levels at St. Mary, Sycamore, Illinois; and at Notre Dame of DeKalb High School. She then ministered for three years as Local Leader for the Sisters at St. Michael, Chicago.
Sister Pat continued her educational ministry at St. James, Belvidere, Illinois. Following a year as student at Loyola University of Chicago, she taught for three years at Notre Dame of Maryland. There she taught a radio production course, with the intention that it would prepare students “to operate the equipment efficiently.” As she was quoted in the College of Notre Dame newspaper of November, 1980, she said, “In time, students will be ready to use their skills as they literally become part-time disco-jockeys in the Notre Dame radio studio.”
Returning to Chicago in 1983, she taught intermediate grades at St. Stanislaus Kostka, Chicago; at St. Domitilla, Hillside, Illinois; and at St. Procopius, Chicago.
From 1993 to 2005, Pat served as community leader and patient advocate for our elder Sisters at St. Benedict, Chicago, and at St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged, also in Chicago.
She retired to St. Pius X in Stickney, Illinois, in 2001, and to the Academy of Our Lady Convent in 2004. In 2005, she moved to retirement at Marian Village in Homer Glen, Illinois, and in 2011 to Resurrection Life Center, also in Chicago.
Pat died at RLC on December 6, after a long struggle with COVID-19, which had included ICU treatment at the hospital nearby.
Burial was held at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, on December 17, 2020. There will be a Memorial Mass for Pat at a later date. May she rest in peace.
