The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods are a community of vowed Catholic women religious. Inspired by our foundress Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, we are passionate about our lives of prayer, education, service and advocacy.
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Sister Margaret Norris, formerly Sister Marie Angeline, passed away on Monday, November 3, at Union Hospital in Terre Haute. She was 94-years-old and had been a Sister of Providence for 76 years.
Commentary
By Sister Ann Casper, SP
1 Corinthians 9:24-26
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
The baby born January 5, 1931, in Jasper, Indiana, to Oliver and Emma Cannon Norris was baptized Margaret Ann. In addition to her parents, she had three brothers Joseph, Bill, and Jerry and two sisters, Bernice and Emiline, all of whom have preceded her in death. Her sister-in-law Jan who visited Margaret every year in October. Margaret is also survived by several nieces and nephews, in addition to countless friends and ministry associates.
Margaret entered the Congregation July 22, 1949, and was given the name Sister Marie Angeline. She professed perpetual vows on Jan. 23, 1957. Later she earned a bachelor’s degree in from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and a master’s degree from Indiana University, both in education.
She taught 49 years of her 76 years as a Sister of Providence in schools in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and North Carolina, with 33 of those years spent in schools in Jasper. It was in Jasper that she became interested in running in 1979, feeling that she needed more exercise than her daily routine of swimming was affording her. Running grew to be, in her words, “a divine experience,” a time for “quiet, solitude and closeness to God and nature.” She belonged to several running clubs through the years, in Indianapolis, Evansville and Vincennes, earning the title “the running nun.” A newspaper clipping noted that she finished first in all but two of 42 races she entered!
People in Jasper were already used to seeing her ride a bicycle through the city streets, but now there was her daily occurrence of running, usually about ten miles a day. Exercise was also part of her curriculum, gathering her class after recess to walk together around the school yard. She remarked, “When they first started they could hardly make it, complaining of being tired, but they soon grew to love it.”
While in Jasper, she frequently ran competitively, especially in the 1980s and early 90s when she was in her fifties and early 60s. She often journeyed to other cities to run different length mini-marathons. Her proudest achievement was running the 1983 Boston Marathon in under four minutes. Her folder in the office of records is bursting with newspaper clippings from those years, as well small metal plates noting her first-place finishes. I stopped counting when I reached fifty! Always athletic (which she attributed to growing up with brothers and in a “boys’ world”), after retiring from teaching she worked in an exercise facility in Jasper for two years and supervised the summer swimming program at the Jasper City Pool. It was also in Jasper where she became a certified massage therapist.
Sister Margaret Norris (left) with her companion Sister Jody O’Neil
Many times, Margaret spoke of herself as being “a doer, not a spectator.” And do she did! While in Jasper, she volunteered in the hospital and also for Habitat for Humanity. One of the workers asked if she could quit her day job (teaching) and join their ranks on a full-time basis – she was that good.
In 2008, she returned to the motherhouse and continued her volunteering ways, primarily by offering massage therapy and reflexology to her sisters. She was described as having “strong hands and a gentle heart.” She was still volunteering at Helping Hands at the time of her death, as well as wrapping silverware in napkins at Lourdes for use at every meal and watering plants in the Lourdes courtyard. She eventually had to give up bicycle riding, but continued her daily walk at age 94. Through the years she also served as driver, did quilting and was a volunteer at Providence Food Pantry and Helping Hands.
Margaret also enjoyed travel and would plan trips involving three or four sisters. One which especially delighted her companions was a journey to New York where they retraced the footsteps of Mother Theodore and her companions in 1840 from their arrival in New York and through several states to their destination in the Woods.
Sister Margaret Norris at prayer
Band members Sisters Regina Marie and Joann Quinkert recalled Margaret’s “caring ways,” saying that “observing needs around her seemed to come naturally to her and she would always try to make things better or easier for others.” This attitude carried even beyond her death, donating her body to science.
Her devoted friend and former SP staff member Connie Gualano enjoyed spending time with Margaret, noting that her food favorites were Cracker Barrel’s pecan pancakes (with two containers of syrup, please) and Panera Bread’s soups. Margaret would sometimes ride with Connie on her motorcycle, looking very dashing in her cycle helmet.
Sister Margaret’s running days are over and she has certainly run (and done all manner of other things) in such a way as to get the prize. She did not run aimlessly. She knew the “prize” for which she was living life — the crown that lasts forever — life with God for all eternity. May we race with the same generosity and enthusiasm that permeated her life.
Funeral Information
Services for Sister Margaret took place on Friday, November 21, 2025, in the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.
A Wake was from 10-10:50 a.m., and a Memorial Mass took place at 11 a.m.
The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, are a congregation of Roman Catholic women religious (sisters) who minister throughout the United States and Taiwan. Saint Mother Theodore Guerin founded the Sisters of Providence in 1840. The congregation has a mission of being God's Providence in the world by committing to performing works of love, mercy and justice in service among God's people.
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