MILWAUKEE — Sister Carolita Greiner, a Keota native and former educator and administrator, died March 27 at Sacred Heart Convent. She was 102.
She was born on Jan. 5, 1924, to John and Eva Greiner, on a farm near Keota. Her father wrote her a letter for her 35th birthday telling her about the night she was born, when it was 24 degrees below zero. He wrote, “The doctor had to stay all night because his car froze up soon after he arrived. We burned a whole load of wood for you that night. At breakfast, prepared by Grandma Greiner the next morning, he ate almost a whole glass of jelly on his toast. So, between a load of wood and a glass of jelly, it was a pretty expensive deal!”
Greiner went to a one-room public school then transferred to Clear Creek School where the School Sisters of St. Francis served. From there she went to Keota High School, staying with her grandmother who lived in town.
After graduation from high school, she worked for two years before joining the School Sisters of St. Francis with reception on June 13, 1943. Her two aunts, Sisters Licinia and Marmenia Greiner, sisters of her father, were a great inspiration for her. As her aunts were an inspiration for her, she was an inspiration for her sister, Cecilia, who became Sister Laurelle in 1945 and her sister, Terese, who was received into the community in 1951.
Sister Carolita Greiner graduated from Alverno College-Milwaukee, and began her professional career at St. Rita School in West Allis, Wisconsin. She then taught in Earling, Iowa; Madonna High School in Aurora, Illinois; then she went on to Alverno College where she taught home economics for the next 12 years.
For the next 20 years, Sister Greiner was in administration, including working for the School Sisters Wisconsin Province, St. Catherine School and LaFarge Lifelong Learning Institute.
Through the years, many of her students stayed in contact with her through visits, telephone calls and letters. She continued to influence them and their families, supporting them with her concern and interest as well as her prayer. She was especially concerned about women being called to the vocation of homemaking and being educated and prepared for this awesome responsibility.
Sister Greiner always said she couldn’t have completed her professional life any better than by working for eight years for the Franciscan Pilgrimage Program under the direction of Father Roch Niemier. During that time, she had the opportunity to enlarge her appreciation of her own Franciscan heritage and to deepen her Franciscan spirituality through contacts with the pilgrimage staff as well as participating in planning the programs. This position gave her the opportunity to visit Rome and Assisi and many other places associated with Saints Francis and Clare.
Moving back to Sacred Heart in 2015, Sister Greiner enjoyed living in the Motherhouse where she had begun her life as a School Sister of St. Francis. She treasured living with the sisters and praying daily in common with them.
An important gift of her last years of living in Sacred Heart was the time she had for enriching activities and experiences along with extra quiet time for prayer and reflection.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held April 16 in the St. Joseph Convent Chapel in Milwaukee with burial at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Milwaukee.
