Florida Catholic | Last Of Her Kind

Last of her kind | Part 1

The departure of the last Our Lady of Victory Missionary sister leaves a void in south Florida.

ANA RODRIGUEZ–SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 05.08.08

ANA RODRIGUEZ–SOTO | FC
Although she is retired, Victory Noll Sister Patricia Knapp brings Communion every morning after daily Mass to fellow residents at St. Andrew Towers, the archdiocesan facility for the elderly located next to St. Andrew Church in Coral Springs.

CORAL SPRINGS | She uses a cane now to steady her bent body – and to knock forcefully on doors.

A thyroid operation, “worn out” knees and 89 years of living have slowed Sister Patricia Knapp somewhat, but the Victory Noll missionary has yet to stop working. Officially retired since 1992, she still takes Communion to shut-ins after daily Mass each morning. She volunteers at the Coral Springs police department once a month. And she helps out at the office of St. Andrew Towers, where she lives in a cramped but cozy first-floor apartment – for now.

Built for the elderly and people with disabilities, the apartment complex is managed by Catholic Health Services and located just across the parking lot from St. Andrew Parish. Sister Knapp started working at the towers in 1987, providing social services to residents and keeping manual track of their health records. When she retired five years later, she moved in, but her ministry continued.

She took care of two small children so that their mother could attend college. She supervised the making of more than 100 carpenter’s aprons for Habitat for Humanity volunteers. She worked on St. Andrew’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults team, preparing adults to join the church at Easter. She led Bible discussion groups for residents of the towers.

“It’s these kinds of things that keep me going,” said Sister Knapp, who got used to hard work while growing up on a farm in South Haven, Mich., with nine brothers and sisters.

“My sister and I were pasteurizing milk before we started high school,” she recalled. “I went to a one-room schoolhouse my first eight grades.”

Her brothers would milk the cows and drive the truck to deliver the milk.

“I guess you’d say we had a wholesome family life, helping each other. That’s carried over into my religious life,” said Sister Knapp, who will leave south Florida at the end of May to return to the Victory Noll motherhouse in Huntington, Ind.

Her superiors, she said, feel that “my physical condition warrants it.”

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Last of her kind | Part 1

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