DES MOINES — Sister Elaine Hagedorn, CHM, 88, died Aug. 20 at the Jewish Senior Life Center.
Elaine Claire Cecilia Hagedorn was born Oct. 27, 1935 in Denison, Iowa to Lester Paul and Grace Cecelia (Pardee) Hagedorn. She entered the Congregation of the Humility of Mary in 1957 and professed vows in 1960 as Sister Marie Paul.
Sister Hagedorn studied elementary education at Ottumwa Heights College in Ottumwa and completed her BA at Marycrest College in Davenport. She completed post-graduate courses in education, social action, theology and catechetics at a variety of Midwest colleges and universities.
Sister Hagedorn served as a teacher in Ottumwa, Dunlap and Marshalltown, Iowa, where she also served as principal. Later, she served as an area coordinator for the Diocese of Des Moines’ Social Action Office, a meal deliverer for Meals on Wheels, and served for 30 years as a pastoral minister and religious education coordinator for Visitation Church, now Our Lady of the Americas, where she continued as a volunteer after retiring. Her volunteer work in Des Moines included ministering to the homebound, preparing wakes and funerals and providing transportation to medical appointments. When necessary, she mediated between homebound individuals and appropriate governmental, medical or professional agencies.
Sister Hagedorn was highly involved in social justice and policy reform in political and secular circles. She was a member of the Catholic Committee on Urban Ministry, the Justice for Women in the Church Task Force, the Catholic Peace Fellowship, and the Peace and Justice Committee of the Sisters Council. Sister served on the board of the Catholic Peace Ministry, the Des Moines Faith Committee for Peace, the Des Moines Sisters Council, and the Diocesan Finance Council. Additionally, she served as a moderator for the Catholic Women’s League.
As part of the NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, she took part multiple times in the “Nuns on the Bus” and actively engaged agencies and political figures at the local and national levels to challenge injustice and inequality. She regularly joined with other community and faith leaders to call upon leaders at the state and federal levels to enact reforms to better the lives of all people.
Sister Hagedorn earned the Msgr. Marvin A. Mottet “Footsteps” Award in 2008 for exemplifying the “two feet” of Catholic Social Teaching, Charity and Justice. The Diocese of Des Moines awarded her a Recognition of Service to Youth to honor 40 years of service. She received the Papal Award for her Service to the Church. In 2024, she and her sister, Marilyn Jean Hagedorn, CHM, received the Bishop Dingman Peace Award, from the Catholic Peace Ministry.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Aug. 26 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Des Moines. Burial followed at Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines. Additional services were to be held Aug. 27 and 28 at the Humility of Mary Center in Davenport.
Memorials may be made to the Congregation of the Humility of Mary or to the charity of your choice.
