(1932-2018)

Although their education did not extend beyond eighth grade, which included no psychology or parenting classes, our parents provided a loving home environment. Hospitality was one of their special gifts and our home was constantly filled with relatives and friends. Whatever the techniques they used, the six of us all ended up possessing a good self-image and a deep love for one another that exists to this day. We often say that if we were penniless, we would be rich.

Such was the home life with which Dorothy Joanne Budenz and her five siblings – Henry Joseph, Louis William, Lawrence Francis, Jerome Quentin, and Mary Kathryn – were surrounded in their hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana.

Dorothy was the youngest of the six, born on October 25, 1932, to Clara Ann (Massing) Budenz and Henry Joseph Budenz Jr., who worked for the American Can Company. The family lived in Terre Haute until 1945, when Henry was transferred to Chicago.

For the Budenz family, life in Terre Haute in the 1930s and early 1940s was as typically “Americana” as could be, with a tight-knit neighborhood whose children played together, had lemonade stands, and put on theatrical productions in the Budenzes’ three-car garage. Dorothy loaded up her little red wagon with cucumbers to sell and also sold the Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies’ Home Journal. Much of life centered around St. Margaret Mary Parish, where the family attended church and where Dorothy was taught by the Sisters of Providence.

Read more about Sister Clara Ann (pdf)