Audrey Ann Jones was born on Dec. 17, 1925, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Don and Loretta Kendall Jones. She was the middle child with an older and younger brother. When she was three years old, the family moved from Cincinnati to Toledo, Ohio. Because of the Depression, her family had to rent homes from the time she was in grade school until she entered college. This meant the family moved at least five times during that period.
She attended one Catholic grade school but attended three different high schools due to the family’s moves. After graduation, she enrolled in Tri-State University, intending to pursue secretarial training. However, she did not like the school and her father offered to send her to another college. She then attended Mary Manse College, an institution sponsored by the Ursuline Order, where she switched her major to chemistry. She graduated in 1947 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and went to work as an analytical chemist for DuPont in Cleveland for nine months before entering community.
After learning about the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration from one of the congregation’s booklets she read while on a weekend retreat, she realized God was leading her in the direction of a contemplative religious community.
She entered at Clyde on May 24, 1948. Sr. Audrey made her first monastic profession on April 13, 1950, taking the name Sister Rosalita. She made her final vows on May 3, 1955, and later took part in the Consecration of Virgins on Aug. 15, 1965. She received permission to use her baptismal name and became Sister Mary Audrey in 1968.
Her early years saw her working in the altar bread department and in the printery. She joined three other of our Sisters who attended the Benedictine Institute of Sacred Theology (BIST) each summer in Minnesota from 1958 to 1963. This was a pioneering effort to get women religious trained in theology. She graduated from the program with a master’s degree in religious studies and monasticism.
Sr. Audrey often served in leadership roles. She was postulant director many times, subprioress of the Tucson, San Diego and Mundelein monasteries, and prioress of the Clyde and Mundelein monasteries.
She was elected and served as prioress general for two terms during the years 1974 to 1982. Her first term began with the congregation celebrating its centennial year. The chapter that elected her also mandated a process of revising the provisional Constitution of the congregation. These 8 years were filled with experimentation and change.
Some of the notable happenings during her two terms as prioress general were:
Adoption of a new emblem worn by the sisters from a design by Sr. Denise McMahon.
Construction of a new healthcare wing at the St. Louis monastery for nursing care for the retired sisters.
Encouraged sisters who studied the Church Fathers to give 2 year courses to the community in these areas.
Initiated an experiment in small group living at Rickenbach Center in Clyde.
Closed our Mundelein monastery near Chicago.
Planned for and called the first General Assembly in 1978, the first time the whole congregation gathered in one place.
Sent Sr. Lenora Black to teach formation and liturgy to the Benedictine Sisters in Tororo, Uganda.
Collaborated with other religious groups in the U.S. working for peace and an end to the nuclear weapons build up.
Encouraged the compilation of the letters and biographies of our sisters who lived in the first decades of the congregation’s history.
Celebrated the 1,500th anniversary of St. Benedict’s birth in 1980 along with all Benedictines.
Led efforts in future planning by hiring the Pearce Corporation to do a study of the viability of our buildings based on membership changes.
Towards the end of her eight years as prioress general Sr. Audrey gave conferences on the Rule of Benedict, and on the congregation’s charism. After many drafts and consultations with the sisters, she completed work on the 1982 Constitution.
Finally, she went to investigate the possibility of making a small new foundation after an invitation from Bishop Joseph Hart in Wyoming. This evolved into a new monastery, of which she was one of the first members [1983-87] after her terms as prioress general ended.
It was also during her time as prioress general that the formal request was made to build an ashram-style monastic community in Oklahoma (which later become Osage Forest of Peace in Sand Springs).
She also served as director of the correspondence department and served as junior sister director. In her later years she was a friendly face at the Clyde door where she served as portress greeting visitors to the monastery. Her hobbies were reading, knitting and taking walks.
Sister Audrey was most grateful for her vocation to religious life. Also important to her were “the friendships I have made, the challenges that have helped me to grow and the endless blessings I have received.” She moved to Our Lady of Rickenbach Health Care Center in March of 2015.
Sister Mary Audrey died at 7:30 pm on February 17, 2018. She was 92 years old and had been in Religious Vows for 67 years. Her funeral liturgy and burial at our Mount Calvary Cemetery were on February 22, 2018.