Sister Myra Lambert

(Sister Myra Paul)

Myra was the 11th of 13 children born to Ida and Paul Lambert. She had nine brothers and three sisters. Sadly, her oldest sister died of diphtheria at the age of seven. The family lived on a farm, as did many other families in Beaverville, Illinois.

Myra attended, along with Sister Myra Dionne and Sister Evelyn Varboncoeur, a little country school called Frigon. When it came time for high school, Myra asked to go to the high school where her brothers went, but her mother wanted her to go to Holy Family Academy and insisted she try it for a year. By the time the year was up, Myra had no desire to leave.

After high school graduation, Myra moved to Kankakee, about twenty miles away. She took a position as a private secretary at a firm there and attended classes at Nazarene College in neighboring Bourbonnais.

Myra first thought about becoming a Sister while on the annual retreat during her senior year of high school, and the thought would periodically return. It was, in fact, persistent enough so that she let her boyfriend know that the thought was there.

One day, Myra received a call from Sister Paul Marie, the Provincial, inviting her to become a lay teacher in Joliet where the Sisters had begun a new teaching ministry. Sister Agnes Cunningham, Sister Myra Dionne, and Sister Rita Joan were all there. Myra said “yes” and became a 4th grade teacher at St. Mary Magdalene School in Joliet. One February morning in 1957, Myra woke up knowing that “Yes, I will enter.” Although she could not recall what her dream had been about, that thought was etched on her heart. There was no doubt about which congregation she would join. She had been taught by the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary, developed close friendships with Sisters Myra Dionne (Sister Joseph Marie) and Agnes Cunningham (Sister St. Agnes) as she worked with them at the school, and had heard the Sisters laughing and having fun. This became her new family. In 1960, Myra made first vows, joining her aunt, Sister Mary Gabriel Kirby, as a member of the congregation.

Sister Myra has been involved in a variety of ministries. As a Sister, she taught in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and in Chicago and Beaverville in Illinois. She co-founded a parish in Chicago’s Ford City Mall with Father Bill Shields, Father Chris Melone, and Sister Connie Huhn, OP. This was one of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s great experiments of the 1970’s. She was the President/CEO of St. Anne Center, a nursing home located in Rockford, Illinois. Sister Myra also served as a Pastoral Minister at St. Alphonsus Church in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and in three country parishes in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. For several years, she was the Vocation Director for the congregation. Currently, she serves as Spiritual Director for many people, leads book groups, and is the Director for Delaplace Prayer Ministry as well as the Servant Companion and Consecrated Laity programs.

Sister Myra just completed the Forest Dwelling Program sponsored by the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. This certificate program was the inspiration of Father Ronald Rolheiser and the Oblate faculty. Using the adult learning model, the program encourages those moving into the elder years to continue to grow and to love growing.

Sister Myra has loved every ministry she has been in, but is especially drawn to Spiritual Direction. She says that as a director, she grows as much as her directees do. It is the one ministry where you are totally focused on the presence and action of God.

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