Sister Ruth Margaret Raupp, a sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet who served as the superior of her congregation’s Hawaii vice-province for six years in the 1990s, died Jan. 29 at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, Missouri. She was 96 and a religious for 71 years.
Sister Ruth Margaret spent most of her religious life as a teacher, administrator and congregational leader in Missouri and Illinois, but left the Midwest in 1991 to serve as the vice provincial superior in Honolulu until 1997.
Sister Ruth Margaret was born on April 4, 1921, in Decatur, Illinois, to Carl and Ruth (Theiss) Raupp. Her baptismal name was Barbara Jane. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on Sept. 15, 1946, and made her final profession on Aug. 15, 1952. She received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Fontbonne College in 1943 and a master’s in philosophy from St. Louis University in 1955.
Sister Ruth Margaret taught in Catholic elementary and high schools from 1949 to 1964 in the Missouri cities of St. Louis, St. Joseph and Kansas City and in Peoria, Illinois. During that time she also earned her master’s degree.
She was an administrative staff member at Fontbonne College from 1964 to 1971. For the next 13 years, she served her Carondelet community at the St. Joseph Provincialate as regional superior until 1977 and then as assistant province superior until 1984. After her sabbatical, Sister Ruth Margaret worked as a spiritual director.
In 1987, she served one year as the assistant administrator for the St. Joseph Provincial House before serving the next three years as co-administrator. From 1991 to 1997, Sister Ruth served as the vice provincial superior in Honolulu, Hawaii.
She became the superior in Hawaii at the request of the Hawaii sisters.
“Those were some wonderful years,” she recalled in a 2007 interview at the Carondelet Motherhouse. “I must say that I really loved those years.”
“I told my family that I was going for three years and then I was reelected for three more,” she said. “I remember on the flight over that I thought I would like the sisters, really love them. And I really did.”
While in Hawaii, Sister Ruth Margaret also served on the Catholic Charities board, the Spiritual Life Center board and the Diocesan Pastoral Council.
In 1997, she returned to the St. Joseph Provincial House in St. Louis as the hospitality coordinator. Retiring in 2002, she volunteered at both the Carondelet Family Literacy Program until 2008 and at the St. Joseph Provincial House as a hospitality liaison until 2011. Since then, Sister Ruth Margaret had ministered in prayer and presence at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis.
Sister Ruth Margaret’s funeral was Feb. 1 at the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Motherhouse in St. Louis.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province, 6400 Minnesota Ave., St. Louis, MO 63111-2899.
