Benedictine sisters to be honored with Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award

St. Benedict's Foundation

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(From left) Sisters Danile Knight, Jean Gibson, Luke Hoschette, Mary Zenzen, Stephanie Mongeon and Iris Beckwith will be presented with the 2012 Lt. Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award. Courtesy photo/St. Benedict's Foundation

OGDEN — For 66 years, the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict in Ogden have ministered to the people of northern Utah, first in the hospital they founded, then with a nursing school, and now with a foundation that serves the disadvantaged. In addition, the sisters volunteered and continue to do so with organizations such as United Way of Northern Utah, Ogden Regional Medical Center and the Weber Coalition for a Healthy Community.

For their service through the years, the Sisters of St. Benedict have been named the recipients of a 2012 State Volunteer Award, which is presented by the Utah Commission on Volunteers.

"It’s the highest award that the state gives for volunteering," said Jeanne Hall, who for four years has been a member of the Utah Commission on Volunteers board.

Hall also served six years on the St. Benedict’s Foundation board. The nonprofit foundation was created in 1976. After the sale of St. Benedict’s Hospital (now known as Ogden Regional Medical), the foundation became the sisters’ corporate mission. Through the years, the foundation has granted over $4.5 million to northern Utah non-profits, benefiting more than 8,000 individuals each year.

Since 1946, about 155 Benedictine sisters have served in northern Utah. The six who remain are involved not only with the foundation but also contribute in other ways: They collect aluminum to recycle; donated the proceeds to the United Way of Northern Utah; organize a Thanksgiving morning run to raise money and food items for local homeless shelters; speak on topics such as good health, gratitude, and spirituality; and bake, can and knit items for fundraisers.

"Even where they are in their life now – some of them in their 80s, – they are just out there; they’re in the churches, they’re in the community, they’re in all of these agencies that they support – they’re just incredible women. It’s very apparent to me the impact they make in the community," said Hall, adding that all the sisters exude "a gracious and strong but calming influence in a turbulent world. They have become angels of compassion and charity for northern Utah."

Benedictine Sister Danile Knight, spokesperson for the sisters, said the love affair between the sisters and Odgen started years ago, when the first Benedictines disembarked from the train that brought them from Minnesota to found the hospital.

"For the six sisters who are here now … We are only standing on the shoulders of some very great women who came in 1946 to serve the people of Ogden in health care but ended up doing other things as well," Sr. Danile said. "They were the ones who laid the groundwork for what we are reaping today. They really won the heart of the people of Ogden."

The sisters will be presented with the 2012 Lt. Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award at a banquet on April 25. Judge Andrew Valdez of the Third District Juvenile Court, will give the keynote address.