Chris Ehrgott

My early life began in the Chicago area, specifically in Lombard. Grade school there introduced me to the School Sisters of St. Francis. One of my favorite memories is that, in the evening, our family was sometimes invited to a dinner at the convent. Sharing time with the sisters at a meal was totally different from seeing them in school.

The next year, my sister became an aspirant and was a professed sister a few years later. My grade school memories are filled with vivid images of every sister teacher and their dedication to the “young and the restless!”

After a nursing career and 30 years in passenger services at American Airlines, my longtime curiosity about driving a big truck became the start of a new life on the road. I soon learned that my life would become an adventure in freedom and contemplation, mile after mile. Filled with challenges, I was determined to succeed and quickly joined a unique community of mostly men (and a few women) dedicated to hauling food and supplies on the endless highways connecting America.

My sister, Sister Lynmary Ehrgott, invited me to consider becoming an Associate in 2002. At the time, I wasn’t sure I fit that calling, given my life as a long-haul trucker. However, while visiting her at a St. Joseph Convent celebration, I met Sister Therese Thoenen, who further encouraged me to take that step.

My decision to take that important step was clearly one of the best of my life. Although I’m removed from many associate gatherings due to trucking demands, the correspondence and annual area meetings with the 301 Amen Southern Area Community have kept the fabric of my Associate Relationship well intact.

Each annual commissioning over the years has brought many encounters with drivers and dispatchers, patrons and police assistants, shippers and secretaries, customers and cashiers. Happily, one of those cashiers, Mary, became my life partner and wife. She has brought many blessings to the sunset of my life.

The sum and substance of my Associate Relationship is best described as a deep awareness and enlivened pledge to “drive forward” the global commitment of the School Sisters of St. Francis to the best of my ability at my age of 85. Retirement is in view, but the sun is not setting; its light continues to shine!

Chris, we congratulate you on your 25th Anniversary as an associate. Thank you for spreading the message of the School Sisters of St. Francis across the highways connecting America.