Sr. Virginia Bartholome, CHM

Sister Virginia Bartholome, CHM, 100, died July 13, 2024, at Bishop Drumm Care Center in Johnston, Iowa. Services at Bishop Drumm Our Lady of Peace Chapel: Tuesday, July 16, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m., Visitation, and 3:30 p.m., Memorial Service. In Davenport, Iowa, Humility of Mary Center Magnificat Chapel, services are Wednesday, July 17, 4:00 p.m., Rosary and Visitation; 7:00 p.m., Memorial Service; Thursday, July 18, 11:00 a.m., Mass of Christian Burial followed by interment in Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Davenport.

Virginia Mary Bartholome was born October 10, 1923, in Great Falls, Montana, to William and Margaret (Franklin) Bartholome. She entered the Sisters of the Humility of Mary in 1943 and professed vows in 1946 as Sister Marita. 

Sister completed a three-year program in Business Education at Great Falls College, Great Falls, in 1944 and a BS in Business Education from Marycrest College, Davenport, in 1947. She earned her BS and MS degrees in Library Science from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin.

Her career as a librarian began in 1947 when she served as a business teacher and librarian for St. Leo High School in Lewistown, Montana. From 1953 to 1957, Sister was a business teacher and librarian at Central Catholic High School in Great Falls, and from 1957 to 1973, she served as the Head Librarian at Marycrest College, where she oversaw the construction of a new library in 1958 and its expansions in 1966 and 1968. In 1972 and early 1973, she took a year-long sabbatical to study administrative procedures at merged college libraries as preparation for a proposed merger between Marycrest and St. Ambrose colleges. During this sabbatical, she served as an intern at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, and attended administrative courses in library science at the University of Iowa. She then returned to Great Falls, and worked until her retirement in 1996 as a reference librarian for the Great Falls Public Library. Despite being retired, she spent over a decade, from 1997 to 2009, working in the University of Great Falls’ Archives, organizing the collection. After retiring again, she served in a ministry of prayer and witness at the Bishop Drumm Retirement Center.

Sister Virginia served as president of the Iowa Library Association in 1970, a member of the Legion of Mary, an active member of St. Ann’s Cathedral in Great Falls, and worked with ministries aiding prisoners, the sick, the homebound, and those living in nursing homes. Before entering the community, she was a volunteer nurse aide during World War II.

S. Virginia is preceded in death by her parents and brothers William Franklin and John Robert Bartholome. She is survived by her niece Patricia Bartholome, Kansas City, Missouri, other nieces and nephews, and her CHM community.

Memorials may be made to the Congregation of the Humility of Mary.