Sister Teresa Grabber, CCVI (1930 – 2017)

From day one in the convent to her last years in retirement, Sr. Teresa Grabber did the will of God, no matter how difficult it was at times.

When Sr. Teresa Grabber (formerly Sr. Edward) joined the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, the congregation had taken up so many nursing and grade school teaching responsibilities that the superiors could not afford to ask each of the young sisters what they would prefer to do; they simply assigned them where they were needed. And the sisters went wherever they were sent. That was the vow of obedience, doing God’s will as expressed through the community’s superior.

The young Teresa, however, almost went back home on day one. She had made a firm decision to become a Sister, but she hadn’t counted on the difficulties of that first day. Due to her traveling arrangements, she arrived at the convent a day ahead of everyone else, and she spent the afternoon by herself in a dormitory with a couple dozen empty beds, enduring a hot, humid evening and night. Being alone was very, very different from her life in a bustling household full of siblings in a small farming town near Amarillo.

Then, the Postulancy year – the “boot camp” for those aspiring to become Sisters – was very trying. But she was inspired by a Divine admonition she had read: “I have called you. Once you put your hand to the plow, never turn back.”</em And she never looked back for the rest of her life.

Even in retirement, she used her background in mathematics to help in her community’s accounting office, her managing skills as the sacristan, and her talents in music to lead the retirees in singing hymns in the liturgies.

Like many other Sisters, her first Obedience assignment was to a grade school. Then, in 1959, Sr. Teresa was drafted on short notice to be Director of Postulants, a role she fulfilled with understanding and dedication. Later, due to her promising intelligence, her German cultural roots, and the need at Incarnate Word College for a German language instructor, Sister Grabber was sent to earn a master’s degree in that language.

At the time, the College had a General Education Requirement of two years in a foreign language, and getting full accreditation made having a Language Lab mandatory. Only a few students chose German, so the College reached a cooperative agreement with St. Mary’s University, where they were facing the same problems. Teaching those students from two institutions and utilizing the Lab facilities was listed as a part-time job that turned into full-time because Sr. Grabber was asked to fill in demands in the English program (her degree at the bachelor level) and the Mathematics program (her preference).

Slowly she drifted into the Mathematics Department and this new career made it necessary for Sr. Grabber to get a second master’s degree in this field. Because the Mathematics courses were in support of the Education Department, she faced the challenge of getting those future teachers excited about learning the New Math.

Sr. Grabber’s adventures in teaching grade school and, later, college German, English, and Mathematics were possible because of support from her fellow Sisters at grade schools and at the College. Sisters Rosa María Icaza and Clare Eileen Craddock shared the demanding responsibilities of running a very useful but very expensive Language Lab. Her mentor, Sr. Claude Marie Faust, also encouraged Sister Grabber in her studies. Earlier, Sr. Faust had struggled in graduate school because, at the time, men in the profession had difficulty recognizing that women could have interests and talents in Mathematics.

The Sisters’ community life was also emotionally and spiritually nourishing for Sr. Grabber, particularly her friendship with Sr. Maria Goretti Zehr, who loved and taught music and never missed an opportunity to make students and all others laugh with her quick lines and puns. That cheerful spirit was contagious. With that and God’s grace, every day was a blessing for Sr. Teresa.

Sister Teresa Grabber explains the expanding mission activities of the Incarnate Word Sisters and the new challenges for the University of the Incarnate Word.