Sister Cecilia Linenbrink O.S.F.

Sister Cecilia Linenbrink, OSF, entered her eternal reward on Thursday, November 9, 2017. At 92 years young, Cecilia (born Clara Elizabeth) celebrated 73 years as a Sister of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity of Sacred Heart Province. Cecilia was born on December 3, 1924 in Callaway, NE to Henry and Margaret Linenbrink. She is the second oldest in a family of 13 children, growing up on a farm in northern Nebraska in the midst of the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. A sponge for learning, she completed her high school days in Alliance, NE then entered the Sisters of St. Francis and moved to Denver, CO. The years since then were laced with a love for the Theology of Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., a deep spiritual life, and a life of ministry for those who are marginalized - the poor, the imprisoned, the uneducated, the homeless. This she did from the halls of St. Elizabeth’s School in Denver and Regis University, to St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, to Father Woody’s Haven of Hope and the Denver Jail in Denver, CO. The passion in her life found form in The Learning Source in Denver, which she founded in the mid 1960s, where she served as the director for 27 years, then on the board for many years. Over the years Cecilia served in many different leadership roles in her religious community, including Provincial Leadership. Sr. Cecilia received her undergraduate education at Loretto Heights and Regis University (Denver) and did graduate work at Colorado State University and St. Louis University where she received her doctorate in philosophy. Sr. Cecilia loved her birth family and often spent time retreating at the family ranch where she enjoyed the people and the quiet of this place. She is preceded in death by her parents, brothers John, Vince, Bill and Nick and her sister Kate. She is survived by her blood sisters Mary Snyder, Jo Marshall, Sr. Joan Linenbrink, Verna Stasch, Clara Linenbrink, Henrietta Linenbrink and her brother Jim, as well as many nieces and nephews, grand nieces and nephews, and her many Franciscan Sisters! We will all miss you Sr. Cecilia'God bless you. Cecilia’s Farewell celebration will include: Wake at 7pm, Tuesday, November 14 at St. Dominic’s Church and the Mass of the Resurrection at 10 am on Wednesday, November 15th., also at St. Dominic’s Church, 29th and Federal, Denver, CO.