Sister Rita Mae Rabitoy grew up in Gladstone in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She had two sisters and two brothers. Her sisters became nurses like her mother, but Sister Rita Mae chose another path.
Rita Mae was a babysitter for her neighbors, the Le Claire family. It just so happened that the Le Claire family had two daughters (Sister Margaret and the late Sister Noel) that were School Sisters of St. Francis. Inspired by their example, Rita Mae decided to follow them to the convent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She left Gladstone right after eighth grade and joined other girls in the Aspirancy. Following her Postulancy, Rita Mae received the name Mathia, but she returned to her baptismal name later in her vocation.
As the need for sisters was very great at that time, she was sent out to work. Her grandmother and mother had taught her a lot when it came to cooking, so Sister Rita Mae was sent to Winsted, Minnesota as the convent’s homemaker. She continued her homemaking career in convents in New York, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
In 1972, she was sent to St. William Retirement Center in Chicago, where 21 sisters enjoyed her cooking. Sister Rita Mae liked her time there, but found it hard to cook meals for such a large number of sisters and only one other sister to work with her.
For fun, Sister Rita Mae enjoyed driving and taking trips. She especially liked going to Chicago Cubs games with Sister Rose Mack. Both of these sisters are still big Cubs fans – just ask them!
In 1985 Sister Rita Mae began cooking for the priests at Our Lady of Ransom Rectory in Chicago. She spent 20 years spoiling the priests here. She remembers how every Holy Thursday, in a nod to the Passover, she made lamb chops for their dinner. They certainly missed her when she retired!
Retirement for Sister Rita Mae came in 2006 at St. Cyprian Convent in River Grove, but with retirement came lots of cookie baking. She and Sister Louise Noesen baked many different kind of cookies for the Fall Festival at the Milwaukee motherhouse. After a brief rest, they would begin baking many more different kinds of cookies for the St. Cyprian Parish cookie walk.
Now Sister Rita Mae especially enjoys playing bingo with the other retired sisters at Sacred Heart in Milwaukee.