Sister Susan Swain, SL

Susan Russell Swain arrived into this world on the bathroom floor in Maplewood, Mo., on a very hot evening, August 11, 1945, just a few days after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since her older sister Mary was born just nine months before Pearl Harbor, the world they were bringing children into gave Harry and Helen pause. As troubled as the world seemed at that time, Susan had a very stable life during the post-war years, living in the same house and attending Little Flower School for nine years. Although she was taught by Sparkill Dominicans, Susan was always part of Loretto. Her mom, Helen, was a Webster College graduate, very active at Webster, and had many very good SL friends. So it was not a surprise that, upon her graduation from Nerinx Hall High School in 1963, Susan entered the Loretto novitiate. This was the novitiate group on the cusp of change. This class was the first to split: in the summer of 1964, the first group left for the new Education Center in Denver. Susan was among the group that remained at Loretto, leaving for their second-year novitiate at the House of Studies in St. Louis. Susan made first vows in 1966 and final vows in 1974. As second-year novices in St. Louis, Susan and the others trudged up Lockwood Avenue to attend classes at Webster College. Because she wanted a degree in elementary education, not offered by Webster at that time, Susan transferred to Fontbonne College, graduating with a degree in English (!) in 1968 – not elementary education. This was the era when sisters began to make their own choices about ministry. Sister Helen Sanders strongly encouraged Susan to consider teaching at Loretto in Kansas City. The creative and innovative environment was a great fit, and she remained there until 1983, both as teacher and, for the last few years, as principal. Susan and Diane Fassell spent the summer of 1969 in San Francisco working in a neighborhood house on Potrero Hill. These were the hippy years: Haight-Ashbury was in its heyday and The Grateful Dead practiced in a building at the bottom of one of the many hills in the neighborhood. The next summer found Susan and Mary Catherine Rabbitt working at the Catholic Worker in New York City. There, undercover FBI agents joined the soup line trying to find Father Daniel Berrigan. For several summers in the early 1970s, Susan and Mary McAuliffe taught an Open Classroom course in the newly established Webster University MAT program in Kansas City. Once she became an administrator, Susan's summers rolled right into the school year, although she and Alicia Ramirez did visit Nicaragua one summer and taught quilting in Guatemala during a summer break. After leaving Loretto in KC, Susan took a sabbatical, spending time at Loretto Academy in El Paso, St. Mary's Academy, Denver, and the Motherhouse. Loretto in KC closed in June 1984, and Susan was asked to return to the school to ready the building for sale—a big order for an almost-$2 million property. Susan, Jerome (the maintenance man), and a cadre of Loretto folks took about seven months to complete the task. Susan moved to Denver in the summer of 1985 and spent the next two years at St. Pius in Aurora having great fun teaching in a classroom with the same kids all day long. She was named the principal in the Lower School at St. Mary's Academy in August 1987 and spent the next 15 years enjoying every minute. Many lasting friendships were formed at SMA. Susan and Alicia's northwest Denver neighborhood was in Guadalupe parish. The high-school dropout rate in the area was a huge concern, and the people of the parish wanted a school. Alicia, Susan, and Joy Gerity served on the school planning group in the mid-1990s and Escuela de Guadalupe became a reality in 1999. Susan and Joy were on the first Escuela Board and Susan continued to serve on the Board in 2012. Susan was elected to the Executive Committee in the summer of 2000. Until December 2009, Susan was a full-time Executive Committee member working on the staff at the Denver office. She continued on the staff from 2010, specializing in exploring and implementing technology among other things for the Loretto Community. In March 2011, Susan was diagnosed with stage four squamous cell cancer. She began chemotherapy in April with the hope that the cancers would decrease and go into remission. She was blessed with very few side effects during the treatments, but a PET scan at the end of the year showed significant increase in the cancer. She continued to work for Loretto even into the beginning of hospice. Susan died on April 27, 2012, at her home. Funeral Mass May 9, 6:30 pm at St. Marys Academy, 4545 S University Blvd, Englewood. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: Sisters of Loretto, 4000 S Wadsworth Blvd, Littleton, 80123 Susan Swain Endowment St. Marys Academy, 4545 S University Blvd, Englewood, 80113 Susan Swain Scholarship Fund, Escuela Guadalupe, 3401 Pecos St, Denver, 80211 Please share memories of Sister Susan and Condolences with her family by selecting the ""Sign Guestbook"" tab below.