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Sister Pat Basel, SNJM
(Sister Michael Francis)
March 31, 1924 – July 9, 2023
Sister Pat Basel, SNJM departed this life on July 9, 2023 at Hospice House in Spokane, Washington.
Sister Pat celebrated 99 years of life and 79 years of her religious profession.
A Mass of Resurrection was held Saturday, July 22, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. at Sacred Heart Church in Spokane, Washington.
Sister Patricia Basel, SNJM
March 31, 1924 – July 9, 2023
Sister Mary Patricia Basel (“Sister Pat”) died on Sunday, July 9, 2023, at Hospice House of Spokane, Spokane, Washington. Sister Pat celebrated her 99th birthday on March 31, 2023.
Pat was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1924 to Michael P. Basel and Elizabeth F. Freund. She was the tenth child of the twelve born into her family and is the last of her siblings to pass into eternal life. She received the Sacraments of Initiation at St. Benedict’s Parish in Seattle where she attended public schools. She attended Seattle’s Holy Names Academy for her high school years graduating in June 1942.
Sister Pat credits the Academy’s principal, Sister Dorothy Ann Pillett, with fostering her vocation to religious life. She entered the Sisters of the Holy Names novitiate at Marylhurst, Oregon, in July 1942. On February 5, 1943, she received her Holy Habit and the religious name Sister M. Michael Francis and made Perpetual Vows in August 1945.
Sister Pat can be quoted “I loved my years teaching!” She began her career in Medford, Oregon, and over the next 30 years served as classroom teacher or principal in parish elementary schools staffed by Sisters of the Holy Names in Oregon and Washington.
Her administrative and leadership skills were acknowledged with her selection to serve as an Assistant to the Superior General of the Congregation. In this role, Sister Pat lived in Quebec, Canada, at the Congregation’s headquarters Pierrefonds. During her eight years in Canada, she attended in Rome the Beatification of Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Names, she traveled to each of the provinces of the Congregation, and she contributed to the establishment of programs that to this day enrich the life and ministry of the Congregation.
After a year of renewal, Sister Pat turned her energy and gifts to serving at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Bend, Oregon, before being called to return to Spokane as Director of Novices and to ministry at Immaculate Heart Retreat Center and St. Francis of Assisi Parish. Her sense of humor comes through in her statement “I moved to Marian Hall in 2000 with aging beginning to be felt in various parts of my being!”
Sister Pat was also a gifted artist. She took classes throughout her life and has left to her family and her community the fruit of her gifts in original paintings. Sister Pat will be remembered for her humor, her gift of storytelling, her strength of character, and her love of life that allowed her to find beauty and meaning in each place and person she served.
In 2009 autobiographical notes, she wrote of leaving each ministry assignment as a memory to be treasured, grateful for the life she found in its people, the beauty of its place, and the service accomplished there.
Sister Pat was preceded in death by her parents Michael and Elizabeth Basel, her brothers: Edmund, Raymond, George, Paul, Harold, and Michael, her sisters: Helen Quinn, Margaret Schneider, Catherine Muth, and infant Anna Marie. Sister Pat delighted in a strong bond with her large extended family of nieces and nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews, and their families by whom she will be greatly missed. Sister Pat is survived by her religious community, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and Associates, for whom her love and dedication were her anchors for nearly 80 years. The Sisters wish to thank her nephew Jim Schneider and his wife Gloria and the staff who so graciously cared for Sister Pat during her final days at South Hill Village, Spokane.
Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated at Sacred Heart Church, 219 E. Rockwood Boulevard, Spokane, Washington, on Saturday, July 22, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. with a luncheon reception following. Inurnment will take place at Holy Cross Cemetery, 7200 N Wall St, Spokane, Washington, at the Sisters’ Memorial at 2:00 p.m. Memorial gifts may be made to Sisters of the Holy Names Retirement Fund, PO Box 398, Marylhurst, OR, 97036, or online at www.snjmusontario.org/donate.