Mary Florence was the second of thirteen children born to William Joseph and Rebecca Cecilia (Peoples) Langhammer. My family lived on a farm near Leonard, Missouri, and we older children helped out, caring for the younger ones, doing housework, gardening, chicken and livestock chores, and some work in the field. We attended a small, one-room country grade school, through eighth grade, after which I attended St. Joseph’s Academy at Clyde for three years.

My grandmother received "Tabernacle and Purgatory," from which a cousin found out that they conducted a boarding school for girls. After she attended for one year, she came home all enthused about the prayer life of the Sisters. She returned the following year, taking her sister and me along with her.”

Josephine Roos (our Sr. Josephine Marie), and I became very close friends during these years and decided we wanted to enter. Her parents said she was too young, so she did not come until a few years later. After spending about a month at home at the end of the third year, I entered the convent in 1931, attracted to the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and the kindness and fervor of the Sisters.

As a Postulant I was called Teresa (my Confirmation name), because they said that all the Florences they ever had, had left. Of course, sometimes I did not answer, not having been called by that name, which disturbed some, especially the Postulant Mistress.

As a novice I learned to milk cows, which 1 had never done, and was sometimes kicked into the gutter. I also worked in the Printery, stitching, learning the Intertype machine, and setting hand type. Just when I was learning to run the large printing press, I was told to help with the electrical work. I liked the Printery work, and found the change hard. Not having had electricity in our home, I was afraid of that kind of work and had to learn everything from scratch. Srs. Mathilda and Lucy taught me much, but the more detailed and complicated instructions were taught by Virgil Jansen, a young electrician who spent several years helping us with different installations, including the emergency power plant in the boiler house, two intercommunicating phone systems, underground cables, and so on.

I did electrical work for over 30 years, then went to San Diego to work in the Altar Bread department, after which, I returned to Clyde and did electrical work. During this time I was also sent to Mundelein, Tucson, and Kansas City, each for a short time. Next I was transferred to St. Louis, and put behind a sewing machine, where I was like a fish out of water; then eventually took over the candle work in the chapel for the next 18 years.

Besides keeping the chapel vigil light holders clean and replenished, Sr. Claudia ministered to the guests who came to the chapel for a visit. Welcomed by her warm smile and kind presence as she diligently performed her tasks, many would talk to her and ask her to pray for their special needs.

Sr. Claudia remained in St. Louis, sewing, doing odd jobs, crafts, and playing scrabble (nightly!), until the monastery was closed in 2001, at which time she was transferred to the health care facility in Clyde. Here she continued to sew, making aprons and lap covers, and enjoyed working puzzles, and fishing in the pond with some of the Sisters.

Sr. Claudia’s last years were difficult ones. After a serious fall and broken hip she suffered several setbacks and steady decline. More than once the community was alerted that she could be nearing the end. Finally, as the Sisters kept vigil during the night, the Lord came to take Sr. Mary Claudia to her heavenly homeland on March 26, 2008.