Elaine Gremminger was born in Campbellsport, Wisconsin, in 1935. After a few months, she moved to a farm close by, where she grew up. The School Sisters of St. Francis community had just finished building a large convent on the hill the year before. It was very natural that when Elaine began thinking of joining a community for her ministry, she looked to the School Sisters, even though she was advised to look around to other groups.
After graduating from high school in Campbellsport and attending college, Elaine was ready, at age 19, to make her decision. Her desire was to join with a group that would help her do something to make a difference in the lives she would touch through her ministry
One thing Elaine was certain about: she did not see herself as a teacher. She was interested in hospital lab work. She traveled to Milwaukee and entered this large, mainly teaching order, and her first assignment involved teaching in elementary school!
Today, reflecting upon her life, she knows that this was a very important step in preparing her for the ministry God was calling her to do. During these years, she learned how to be a good teacher. Elaine then began her ministry as a medical technologist working in the hospital in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. This involved doing technical work as well as teaching others how to become good med techs.
God had other ministry areas in mind for Elaine as well. She felt the call to make herself available as a nominee for community leadership and Elaine was elected for a term on the U.S. Provincial leadership team. This came at a time that called for major change in how the School Sister presence in the United States was structured. Elaine brought the skills she had developed to help the community face and decide how to move from seven provinces to one province in the United States. This experience opened Elaine to areas of personal and ministerial growth that helped her prepare for the final stages of her life as a School Sister of St. Francis.
Today, Elaine still has a very clear memory of her many and varied experiences that have helped to shape her life as a School Sister minister, whose goal was to make a difference in the lives of others. This interview is only a beginning to help us get to know Elaine and how God calls people to use their gifts and talents to make a difference in the lives of others. Elaine continues to share with others and respond to questions that spark her clear memory of how God worked in her life as a School Sister of St. Francis.