Sr. Paula Howard, Osb

Sister Paula Howard, OSB, 98, a Benedictine sister of Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kansas, died Sunday, October 24, 2021, at the monastery. The Mass of Resurrection will be held on Wednesday, November 17, in St. Scholastica Chapel at the monastery, at 10:00 a.m., which the public may attend if masked and vaccinated.

Sister Paula Howard was a woman with many gifts. She was a teacher, administrator, writer, poet, musician, and iconographer.  Born to Maria and John Howard in Petrolia, Kansas, on October 30, 1922, she attended Great Bend High School in Great Bend. She entered the Benedictine community in Atchison in 1941, and made her monastic profession in 1943. She taught at elementary, secondary and college levels and served as principal of the Mount Academy from 1965-76. Sister Paula earned her M.A. in speech and drama from the Catholic University of America and M.S. in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame. A high point of her education career was her nine years as English instructor and then registrar at Bethlehem University in the West Bank. She also served as academic dean and assistant to the president at Donnelly College. In addition to various roles on monastery committees, she also served on the board of directors of Benedictine College and the editorial board of Mount publications Benedictines and Threshold . After retiring in 1999, she became an iconographer and wrote more than 250 icons of saints. Her history of the past half-century of the Atchison Benedictines, Monastic Springs , was published in 2013.

Sister Paula was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Mary Ruth Ann Jump, and brother John Howard. She is survived by nieces, nephews and her monastic family. Arensberg Pruett Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be sent to Mount St. Scholastica or made online at the Mount 's website. ( www.mountosb.org )