House of Volk

Colors: Yellow and Navy Blue  

Virtue: Temperance is the moral virtue that helps us to enjoy good things in a proper and balanced way

Scripture:  “Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” Peter 4: 8-10

Personality: Sweet, patient, humble, determined, prayerful, helpful, creative, advocate for the care of the environment and sharing the joyful love of Christ. 

Biography: Sr. Samuella Volk (1931 -   ) 

Born Phyllis Volk in 1931. She grew up in a farming family in Mount Sterling, Illinois. She is the 4th out of 10 kids. Living on the farm she developed a deep love of nature, family, faith and hard work!

Educated by the Dominican sisters and as a teenager Phyllis felt a call to religious life and was inspired by her teachers to join their order, the Dominican Sisters of Springfield Illinois.  

Phyllis joined the Dominican Sisters at age 18 years old and received the new name of Sr.Samuella. Upon entering the community she was hoping to train as a nurse but Church really needed teachers to serve the growing class sizes as the baby boomers became of school age. 

Sr. Samuella accepted the invitation and became a teacher and taught lower primary grades for 50 years! Over those 50 years she taught 1,594 students. She has a notebook with the names of every student and she flips through her book of names often to pray for her former students. 

After teaching in various Dominican schools around Illinois she was invited to join the Dominican Sisters in charge of Holy Rosary School. She arrived in Duluth in 1986 and taught first grade for 18 years. She admits at first she wasn’t sure about her new assignment in northern Minnesota but trusted God’s call to go where needed. She soon fell in love with the city and people, insisting, “I never met warmer people or nicer children.” In 2003, at the age of 71 she was called to move back to the convent in Illinois. 

Ever since she was a child Sr. Samuella has loved creation and the outdoors. Wherever Sr. Sam has lived she has had a garden of flowers and vegetables. As a teacher she would often take her students for walks and instill in them the importance of taking care of our environment and being good stewards of this world. These frequent walks would always include picking up trash and recycling and marveling at what a beautiful world we have been blessed with. Also as a former farm kid, she has always had a great appreciation for the work and effort it takes to cultivate our food and would encourage her students to never waste food and nor take for granted the gift of having access to such fresh foods. 

She also has a deep love of the arts and is an accomplished painter and quilter. 

Many of Sr. Samuella former students are still  in our community and speak so highly of their first grade teacher. She was known for her kindness and delight in teaching her students to recognize what an incredible world and intellect we each have been entrusted with. She loves Jesus so much that it radiated in every aspect of her life. She was a holy and joyful presence in the school that many could appreciate even if they were not in her class. And she continues to be that light of Christ in her community in Springfield, IL.  

She is also known for her humble service. After school she would frequently be found doing chores around the school, even though there was a full maintenance staff. She was often the last to leave and then would spend her walk home picking up trash. If there was a task to be done, she would take care of it - whether she was asked to or not!

Her fellow faculty members often looked to Sr. Sam for spiritual advice and knew if they asked her to pray she would “hound heaven” with her special prayers. 

Sr. Samuella is currently 92 Years Old! She has been a Dominican sister for 74 years! She is barely five feet tall and still finds it difficult to sit still. She’s often found in her happy place, the garden, and continues to inspire many with her faith and humble service to the Church and her Dominican community. When we first told her we’d like to make her a namesake of one SMA’s first households she replied in her typical humble way, insisting, “but there are so many other worthy teachers and school leaders than me.”

Sr. Samuella exemplifies the cardinal virtue of temperance, which is the all about enjoying good things in a proper, balanced way. This virtue depends on moderation or the will’s mastery to enjoy pleasant things in a way that is healthy, balanced and consistent with what is good. Sr. Samuella  demonstrates this not only in her commitment to live simply but also in her willingness to cultivate this mindset in her students who from a young age were formed to seek to use their gifts for others and for the glory of God!