Jansen, SSND, Sr. Miriam (Irene), 86, Baptized into the Hope of Christ’s Resurrection on Wednesday June 25, 2025.
Twin girls were born in St. Ann’s Hospital. St. Louis, MO on May 9, 1939, and baptized on June 1, 1939. Irene and Alice spent the first months of their lives at the Catholic Children’s Home in Alton, IL. While the chaplain looked for a permanent home for the twins. He was determined to keep them together. At the age of nine months, on Easter Sunday, they went home with their new parents, Victor and Rose Mary (Vonnhamen) Jansen.
Irene and Alice had a very happy childhood and did everything together. While their parents could tell them apart, their teachers rarely caught on to their pranks. They attended St. Mary’s Grade School staffed by the School Sisters of Notre Dame and Marquette High School staffed by the Ursuline Sisters. Their parents made many sacrifices to insure they received a Catholic education.
Their father died when the twins were juniors in high school. Following graduation, Irene asked her mother to enter SSND. Her mother found this difficult to accept but supported and encouraged by her twin, Alice, Irene entered the candidature at Sancta Maria in Ripa on August 29, 1957. She was received into the novitiate on July 29,1958 and given the name Miriam Victor in memory of her father. At her reception, her mother expressed her happiness about Irene’s decision. Her mother passed away just four months later after a brief illness. Sister Miriam was professed on July 30,1959 with her twin, Alice, the only family member present. She professed final vows on July 30, 1965.
Sister Miriam began her long educational career by teaching primary children at Holy Rosary School, Houma, LA and Sacred Heart, Rich Fountain, MO. She taught intermediate grades at St. Martin, Jefferson City, MO; St. Augustine, Breese, IL and Immaculate Conception, West Alton, MO. In 1972, she was appointed superintendent of schools in the Jefferson City, MO diocese – the first woman appointed to this position.
In 1979, she was elected provincial leader of the former St. Louis Province and served until 1987. During that time the General Council asked her to co-lead a two-year international seminar focused on the congregation’s ministry directed toward education.
In 1988 following a year of study at Harvard University, she was a consultant for Global Education Associates in New York. From 1989-92 she served as curriculum director for the newly established Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School in East St. Louis, IL. In 1992, she became director of international programs at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland (now Notre Dame of Maryland University) in Baltimore, MD. She served in this position for 19 years.
After leaving higher education she continued educational consulting work, within and beyond SSND, including as a presenter at the SSND Global Education Commission gathering in Rome in early 2025. She participated in developing new models for ministry sponsorship for the Central Pacific and Atlantic Midwest SSND provinces and mentored leaders of SSND educational ministries. After thirty-two years of ministry in the Atlantic-Midwest Province, Sister Miriam moved “home” to the Midwest in August of 2024.
Sister Miriam received a bachelor’s degree in speech from the former Notre Dame College, St. Louis, MO in 1962; a master’s degree in education from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, in 1974 and a master’s degree focusing on global education from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1989.
The evening of June 12, 2025, she was admitted to SSM St. Louis University Hospital suffering from pneumonia. She passed away peacefully the morning of June 25, 2025, with her faithful friend, Ann Scholz, SSND, at her side.
Sister Miriam was an outstanding educator, leader, organizer and deeply committed to Catholic education. She touched lives around the world and inspired many by her kindness and gentle strength, her love for her twin and family, her SSND family and her international students and colleagues.
May she now rest in the arms of the God she served so faithfully for 66 years.
Sister Miriam is survived by her twin sister Alice (Bob) Reinecke. Dear aunt to Ann (Chris) Munier, Bill (Gari) Reed, Mary (Paul) Rickard, Barb (Dave) Kupiec, Patrick (Mayrisa) Reed, and Jenny Reed (John) Berglund, seven great nieces and one great nephew and her sisters in the international SSND community.
Services: Family, friends, and her sisters in community will gather at Sancta Maria in Ripa Chapel, 320 East Ripa Ave, St. Louis, MO 63125 on Wednesday, July 23 at 10 with sharing of memories at 10:30 followed by a mass of Resurrection at 11:15 The celebration will be livestreamed at https://www.ssndcp.org/live/smr. Interment Sancta Maria Cemetery. Contributions in her memory may be made to School Sisters of Notre Dame.
Truly dedicated her life to Christ, His teaching and teaching children in the Catholic faith…for decades. God Grant her Eternal Rest and Peace!
(From a friend at Notre Dame of Maryland University)
There have been many chapters in our university’s existence, we each get our own glimpse into them. I have been blessed to know and learn from so many spectacular women who happened to be School Sisters of Notre Dame, during my time here at CND/NDMU. Experiencing those chapters of our storied and revered institution is a singular experience for each of us. A grace I wish you all could have known is Sr. Miriam Jansen, SSND. She was a twin adopted at birth and raised by a loving mom and dad, who followed a busy and circuitous route to our campus in 1992 when she became the director of International Programs at CND—our earlier name. Her impact here was immediate and tremendous and she graced us with her devotion, wisdom and presence for 19 years. Forgive me, Sr. Miriam, for being unable to list your many real accomplishments. I know our international population grew dramatically under her leadership and ELI came into its own. What I treasure most were the many opportunities I had to work collaboratively with her on committees and task forces where she never lost sight of where our community had come from, where it was, what it could become, and her role in taking us there.
She is a beloved friend who graced this campus and countless individuals with her wisdom, compassion, quiet strength and a great sense of humor that never lost its youthful and impish vigor. She was not only deeply devoted to God, she nurtured hearts and minds and she built communities large and small. I would give anything to see her stifle a laugh at an inappropriate time or at some comment I made just one more time.
For those of you who never had the pleasure of knowing Sr. Miriam, she was one of those people who took up the mantle of all who had gone before and placed it on her shoulders and without saying a word said follow me into the future. I will treasure your memory dear heart.
Sr. Miriam was a strong guiding force in my life as an international student at the college of Notre Dame in Maryland. Always gentle, but firm. May her soul rest peacefully in the bossom of the Lord!!