2020 jubilee spotlight
Sister Margaret Elaine Rovnak
Summer is when our community traditionally celebrates its jubilarians — those Sisters among us marking milestones in religious life. But this is not like any other year. Our jubilee celebrations have been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our 2020 jubilarians may not get to celebrate during a special Mass with family and friends, yet their many years of service to the Lord remain worthy of celebration here. Please join us in acknowledging this milestone moment for Sister Margaret Elaine Rovnak, who celebrates her 70th Jubilee this year.
Sister Margaret Elaine followed her older sister, Sister Rose Ann, from Holy Family Parish in their native Erie, Pa., to join our community in 1948. She made first vows in 1950, and before making final vows in 1955, was already a veteran of teaching assignments in the Pennsylvania towns of Tarentum, Charleroi and Pittsburgh.
She went on to teach grade school and CCD in the towns of Barnesboro, Farrell, Canonsburg, Ellsworth, Perryopolis, Ambridge, Springdale, Erie and Clymer, Pa., and served for five years as principal of St. John the Baptist School in Perryopolis.
Sister Margaret Elaine served for 22 years as administrator of a senior high rise in New Castle, Pa., before retiring to Mount Assisi Convent in Pittsburgh in 2016. A resident of Vincentian Home in Pittsburgh, Sister remains active in prayer ministry, as she anticipates her 90th birthday this October.
Note: Sister Margaret Elaine died on August 20, 2020. Read Obituary
A young Margaret Elaine with her father and one of her brothers in the 1930s.
A teenage Margaret Elaine graduated from Erie East High School in 1948.
Sister Margaret Elaine upon making her final vows at Mount Assisi Convent in 1955.
Sisters Rose Ann and Margaret Elaine Rovnak with their father, Michael, in the 1960s.
Sister Margaret Elaine (front right) comes from a large working class family of four boys and six girls.
Sisters Anita Kuchera (left) and Margaret Elaine (right) celebrate their 25th Jubilee in 1975.
Sisters Margaret Elaine (left), Anita Kuchera, Ricarda Husava and Therese Sedlock celebrate their 50th Jubilee in 2000.
Sister Margaret Elaine with her late sister, Sister Rose Ann, in 2010.
Celebrating her 80th birthday in 2010.
Sister Margaret Elaine as administrator of St. Francis Vista South in New Castle, Pa.
Sister Margaret Elaine welcomes a tiny addition to the Rovnak Family.