Sister Celeste Schreck, 1905-1995
Born March 7 1905, Covington, Kentucky
Entered St. Walburg Monastery, July 26, 1930
First Profession September 1, 1932
Died March 24, 1995
Sr. Celeste was the eighth of fifteen children in the close knit Schreck Family. The family had deeps roots in St. Benedict’s Parish and were proprietors of a grocery store near their home on Eastern Avenue. Sr. Celeste entered St. Walburg Monastery in 1930 and taught in many schools staffed by the Benedictine Sisters from 1932 to 1946.
In 1946 she was appointed assistant registrar and bursar at Villa Madonna College. During the postwar years when the GI Bill allowed many young servicemen to pursue a college education, Sr. Celeste was a good and dependable friend to those she registered. In 1959 severe arthritis made it necessary for her to come to the monastery where she served as bookkeeper for Villa Madonna Academy until 1974.
In 1963 Sr. Celeste had surgery during which a nerve was damaged. From that time on her movement was curtailed and she used a wheelchair most of the time. She became quite proficient in handling a motorized chair. Sr. Celeste’s cheerfulness and wonderful smile made one forget her physical condition even in her last years when multiple health problems seemed to occur one after the other.