A fond farewell for Sister Lucille
By Edna Sailor
Sister Lucille Heidt, says she is a "jack of all trades." She also says she is going to miss all the wonderful people she has met on Fort Berthold over her 27 years of experience here.
Sister Lucille is retiring from her work as a sister. She will return to the Richardton monastery where she expects to be doing some of the same things she did before Father Stevens appointed her to her reservation assignment.
Back then, those tasks included gardening, housekeeping, snow removal, laundry and even taking care of the facility boiler. On Fort Berthold her duties were more people oriented.
Sister Lucille knew from the age of 14 that she wanted to become a sister.
"I was very sick back then and had to be taken to the hospital. My brother found me on the floor. I could not walk on my own I had crawled from the sofa to the door. He had to help me. It was appendicitis and by the time I got to the clinic, I could barely walk up the 39 stairs. They rushed me to the hospital and I had my appendix taken out. When I was recovering, a priest and two sisters came in to see me and give me communion. When I experienced their reverent, caring approach to me as an individual, I knew right then that was what I wanted to do," Heidt said.
Two years later Heidt was on that career path when she moved to Minot to go to high school. She was able to attend the Academy there. As a freshman, she entered her OSB training and in 1956, she said her final vows and officially became part of the Order of Saint Benedict
