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70 Years: Cecilia Paganessi, SP
(Sister Beatrice of Jesus)
My birthplace was Centerville, Mont., a small town ten miles south of Great Falls.
 I thank God for St. Thomas Home in Great Falls, where I began living at the age of seven with my four sisters after our mother’s death.
Educated by the Sisters of Providence, I got to like them very much and felt I wanted to be one. After high school graduation, I attended the College of Great Falls (now University) for one year. Sister Rita of the Sacred Heart (Sister Rita Mudd) paved the way for me to enter the community by telling me who to talk with about my desire.
The following year I entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Providence at Mount St. Vincent, Seattle and made profession on February 28, 1943. I spent many summers taking classes on the college campus in the 1940s and 1950s and received my bachelor’s degree from the College of Great Falls. I earned my master’s degree at the University of Notre Dame.
My ministry includes a teaching career of 31 years. My first assignment was teaching at St. Francis Xavier Grade School in Missoula, Mont. I also taught in parochial grade schools in Glasgow and Great Falls, Mont.; Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho; and Colfax and Walla Walla, Wash.
Projects for the poor her most rewarding experiences
From teaching, I turned to accounting as my ministry after studying accounting at Kinman Business College. I was employed at the College of Great Falls as an accounts receivable clerk in the business office for about eight years and later in the treasurer’s office in the provincialate in Spokane. I especially appreciated being a Sisters of Providence member on campus. It was an enriching experience because it strengthened friendships in community that had begun in my early years of religious life.
When I moved to Spokane, I spent several years in community service.
After a sabbatical year at the Credo program at Gonzaga University in Spokane, I returned to Walla Walla. There I soon became involved in projects for the poor, as a volunteer in the church and parish, as well as visiting and assisting neighbors. These were my best years!
My present retirement life, living at Emilie Court in Spokane, is quite busy. An earlier workshop to help plan for the retirement years invited me to consider hobbies and dreams that might be fulfilled. I began painting and that became a valuable learning experience that deepened my reverence and appreciation for nature in all of its beauty. Today my interest in church, community and world events is very much alive. I cherish the time I can spend in reading, recreating, having conversations and mostly keeping in touch.
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