Entered Life: June 6, 1938
Entered Religious Life: September 8, 1956
Entered Eternal Life: April 25, 2023
“Make me an instrument of Your Love.”
Celebration of Life Service
Watch Livestreamed Service from 5/1 : https://youtube.com/live/23aLnQWpuaE?feature=share
Brummel, Sr. Marietta (Margaret), IBVM. Beloved daughter of Francis J. and Elizabeth nee Tinnes Brummel. Loving sister of Joyce Reising (deceased) (Tom), Mary Louise Brummel (deceased), Nancy Doran (Tom), Joan Wiczek and David Brummel.
Marietta was deeply dedicated to education and had a very inquisitive mind. She taught school at Northlake, Carmichael, Woodlawn and Detroit. She spent 12 years helping to organize and implement a religious education program for the Sault Ste. Marie area in Michigan. She returned to teach at Western Springs but then accepted the challenging role of Vocation Director for the IBVMs. Religious education called her again and she served as a DRE in a Lincoln, IL parish and at St. Charles in Elmhurst. For four years she was a valuable resource for many at the Religious Goods Store in Wheaton. This was not, however, the end of her dedication to education. She then became the Director of Loretto Extension Program until it closed with the sale of Wheaton.
Memorials may be sent to IBVM Development Office, Box 508, Wheaton, IL 60187.
Funeral Reflection by Barb Nelson, IBVM
May 1, 2023
Readings: Isaiah 43:1-5; Excerpts from Wisdom 7; Luke 10:38-42 (which Marietta chose herself).
“Have you ever had “company” over, people or a person you really enjoyed being present to – so you wanted to serve a really nice meal to them – and found yourself stuck in the kitchen slaving over an “over the top” meal or outside BBQing, when all the time you would have rather just serve potato chips and dip so you could be part of the conversation which everyone else really seemed to be enjoying so much in the other room? Ever happened to you? So, you promised yourself, next time when you invited them, you would have everything ready ahead of time, so YOU too could enjoy the exchange going on in the other room.
Well, Martha and Mary took on different roles when Jesus came – and yet each one viewed herself as the hostess in much different ways. Martha, probably the elder, maybe feeling more responsible, since she had invited Jesus to dinner, confronts Jesus and knows that if Jesus just told Mary to get up and help a little, Martha might have a chance to listen to Jesus too. But that would have left Jesus all alone – I’m told men didn’t venture too far into the kitchen area in those days in Israel. And we hear Jesus’ answer, he would much rather be in a conversation with Mary (and perhaps save his cooking skills for later on – on a beach on the Lake of Galilee…)
When I lived with Marietta, I remember if we had guests, she would serve something simple yet hearty like a good soup, and so be able to join in the conversation a little before dinner, and since the guests and the cook never had to do the dishes afterwards, Marietta and the guests could “retire” to the living room to chat…Marietta had it all figured out…
Marietta’s love of nature drew her to garden – strawberry and raspberry bushes as well as vegetables too…She indeed had an earthy Wisdom and learned how to be not only God’s friend, but others’ too. She would pass on encouragement to parents, teachers and students alike to see them through difficult times in several roles across the country, …grade school teacher, director of religious education in several parishes. Or later working out a way for a student to complete that one course they needed to graduate from high school…at Loretto Extension Service.
Or maybe it was helping someone find just the exact book they were looking for in the book department at the Wheaton Religious Goods Store – even if you had forgotten the title. She was such a voracious reader. She would fill her shelves with books to quench her “insatiable” love of reading something on just about any topic. And then say “goodbye” to them before she passed them on. And then there was always another book on her wish list…
There was always more than one way to solve a problem with Marietta around.
We’ve all heard stories about her family, from her detasseling corn, her transfer from Naperville HS to Sacred Heart in Lisle her junior and senior year, and I hear there was something that involved a Jeep too. And camping trips, she loved to go camping – even alone…and trips to Alaska to visit Dave.
I would have loved to be in on the conversation between her and God during her rather sudden final journey. God’s insistent call won, “Fear not, I am with you – I will gather you to myself.” So Marietta could say, “I choose Wisdom, rather than Light. Beyond health and beauty have I loved her”. And finally she could see that God, the infinite Wisdom, was calling her NOW, and, as always, her answer was and always is YES.
YES, Marietta, you are home now.”
