SISTER M. EILEEN GOLOS, 1921-2014

‘‍Spirited’ nun taught children of Tiger greats

6/23/2014

Sister M. Eileen Golos, a former vicar with the Franciscan order in Sylvania who spent most of her nearly 75 years in the religious community teaching, died Wednesday at Rosary Care Center in Sylvania. She was 93.

Despite being in ill health for several years, she maintained the same smile and twinkle in her eyes from her younger years, said Sister Ann Carmen Barone.

“She had such a hardy laugh. She always had a smile and those eyes that flashed. They were still there,” said Sister Ann Carmen, who is vice president for mission and ministry of the religious order.

Sister Eileen’s work with the Franciscans spanned more than four decades in schools in Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio as a teacher and assistant principal.

“She was excellent with students. She was demanding, but she made things fun,” said Sister Ann Carmen, who taught with her at Cardinal Stritch High School in Oregon in the 1970s.

“She had a way of bringing out the best in people. She had great expectations for others,” she said. “She was one of those people who was excellent in relating to faculty and staff.”

She was born on Jan. 25, 1921, in Hamtramck, Mich. She joined the sisters of St. Francis in October, 1937, as a high school student. She professed her first vows in August, 1940, and made her final vows in August, 1946.

She began teaching at elementary schools in the Toledo area and was sent to Minnesota, where she was an educator at schools in Minneapolis and New Brighton.

She taught business classes at Cardinal Stritch, where she also was the assistant principal. From 1976 to 1978, she was the assistant principal at Calvert High School in Tiffin.

Patrick Kennedy, one of her former students at Calvert, said Sister Eileen was an excellent teacher whom he talked with outside of class because of her interests in sports and sense of humor.

“She had a happy, positive, and fun-filled spirit. She was one of my favorite teachers, in part because she taught me typing, which is something I have used all my life. She was supportive of students in her classroom. She had her standards, and you felt like you wanted to do good for her,” said Mr. Kennedy, who is vice president of Bay College West in Iron Mountain, Mich.

He said that Sister Eileen, with whom he shared an interest in cheering for the Detroit Tigers, often could be found in the school library during her lunch reading the Sporting News.

He said she taught the children of Tiger greats Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan while she was a teacher in Michigan.

Later, she moved from the classroom into administrative positions in the order.

The sisters elected her to serve on the order’‍s leadership team, and she was vicar of the order for four years.

She then spent six years as a pastoral associate at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Grand Rapids, Mich.

“One of the things she really loved was the opportunity to work with parishioners, especially in the pastoral ministry,” Sister Ann Carmen said.

There are no immediate survivors.

The sisters will have a welcoming in Our Lady Queen of Peace Chapel at the Sisters of St. Francis Motherhouse in Sylvania from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today. Visitation will continue from 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday until 4:30 p.m., when the funeral Mass will be celebrated.

Tributes are to the Sisters of St. Francis.

Thomas I. Wisniewski Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Contact Mark Reiter at: markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.