Following Schmidt’s death Oct. 9, funeral and memorial services donned campus.
Following Schmidt’s death Oct. 9, funeral and memorial services donned campus.
The Madonna Della Strada Chapel bells rang out over campus Oct. 16 to mark a multi-day celebration of the life of Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, BVM — a national icon and beloved campus figure who passed away Oct. 9 at 106 years old.
Loyola sent an email to the university community Oct. 13 inviting students and community members to honor Schmidt at a wake in Madonna Della Strada Chapel the evening of Oct. 15, followed by visitation until 10 p.m.. A funeral mass was hosted the morning of Oct. 16 in the chapel, after which students were invited to a reception in the Damen Atrium.
At Schmidt’s request, her wake and funeral service were open to students on a first-come-first-serve basis. A private funeral for friends and family was hosted after the funeral service Oct. 16.
The university announced Schmidt’s death in an email to the Loyola community Oct. 9, The Phoenix reported. It came several weeks after Loyola announced her retirement from official campus duties.
Multiple speakers at each of the events said the proceedings were specifically tailored to requests Schmidt made before her death, including her personal selection of songs and readings for the mass.
Minutes before the doors opened to the public Oct. 15 for visitation of Schmidt’s body, a line of people wrapped around the front and side of the chapel, waiting patiently for the family to conclude their private visitation.
At 4 p.m. exactly, event organizers opened the large doors facing Lake Michigan to allow an orderly stream of people to enter into the chapel. The line gravitated towards the closed casket sitting in front of the altar. As the church became increasingly crowded, some people began greeting each other and sharing stories, many exchanging laughter in the process.
Gov. JB Pritzker made a brief visit to the church, where he privately paid his respects and greeted Schmidt’s friends and family in the first pew. He left before the wake service began.
Men’s basketball head coach Drew Valentine was in attendance alongside former men’s basketball player and current graduate student Lucas Williamson, who helped lead the team to their Final Four run in 2018. Loyola President Mark C. Reed entered the church moments before the event began.
Five minutes before the wake began, people were asked to find their seats, and silence fell over the attendees. The proceedings began at 5 p.m. when Thomas W. Neitzke, S.J., greeted visitors with a reading of Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 13:1-13.
Sister Kathy Kandefer, BVM, followed with a recitation of selections from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and read Fragments of the Wisdom of Mary Frances Clarke, selected by Schmidt.
Director of Reunion Engagement Jane Neufeld shared her memories of Schmidt. She reflected on a time when Schmidt’s office was located in the Corboy Law Center near the exit used for the campus shuttle.
“She used the time with students to offer prayers, lend them books and academic advice,” Neufeld said. “She also had to make sure the shuttle line was orderly and everyone was waiting their turn to get on the bus.”
Neufeld said Schmidt loved to have her picture taken and gained so much joy from taking selfies with students around campus.
Schmidt was known by many for her sense of humor. Neufeld said it wasn’t uncommon for her to bless things around campus — everything ranging from dorm rooms to pet dogs.
“She would bless dorm rooms and staff offices,” Neufeld said. “When the waffle maker in the dining hall was on the fritz, she made sure to bless the new ones.”
Before she began working at Loyola in 1991, Schmidt worked at Mundelein Women’s College, where she served in a variety of roles over the course of about 30 years, The Phoenix reported. When the colleges began the process of merging, Neufeld said Schmidt played a vital role in bridging the gap.
Even at the age of 106, Neufeld said Schmidt had a sharp mind and could easily remember the names of both current and former students, which made her good at connecting with members of the Loyola community and alumni from Mundelein College.
While working at Mundelein College, Schmidt resided in Coffey Hall, which was a dorm at the time but now serves as an academic office building.
“Mundelein students remember her at the end of Coffey Hall in her blue bathrobe, arms crossed, waiting for them to return from their night out,” Neufeld said.
Williamson took to the podium next and spoke about his experiences with Schmidt who was the team chaplain of the basketball team during their March Madness Final Four run in 2018.
Williamson said whenever he told someone he went to Loyola, they would ask him questions about two things first — basketball and Schmidt. He said the question never got old because he loved any opportunity to talk about her.
“I say, ‘That’s Sister Jean, and we do not play about her,’” Williamson said.
When Schmidt was awarded the Sword of Loyola — the highest honor the university offers — Williamson was charged with the task of presenting her with the award. When he handed her the sword, she lifted it over her head in celebration.
Schmidt was a vital part of the men’s basketball team, and they wouldn’t have seen the success they did without her support, her prayers and her strategization, according to Williamson.
When it comes to the school’s Jesuit mission, Williamson said Schmidt embodied it perfectly.
“I don’t think anybody set the world on fire quite like Sister Jean,” Williamson said.
After Williamson, Reed — who came to work at Loyola three years ago — stepped forward to share his remarks on Schmidt’s life. He said when he first arrived at the school, he received an invitation from Schmidt to meet. He was warned by colleagues that Schmidt would likely do more than just introduce herself — she was known for having strong opinions about the university.
“She pushed across the desk a two page document titled ‘Questions and Issues to Ponder,’” Reed said.
The list included demands relating to everything from encouraging Reed to be himself to insisting he write his own emails.
Reed said he made his final visit to Schmidt’s apartment — located in The Clare near the Water Tower Campus — Oct. 8, one day before she died. He said it was clear she wasn’t in good health, and before he left he said he loved her. Her final words to him, which he shared with the attendees, were “I love you guys too.”
After the wake ended, students formed a long line outside of the chapel, waiting to be let in in small groups to visit Schmidt’s body. Visitation continued until 10 p.m. that evening.
Elizabeth Moran, a Ph.D. student who has been studying at Loyola since 2022, said she became friends with Schmidt when she sought her out in her office upon her arrival at the university. Moran said she felt drawn to Schmidt because of stories of her kindness and willingness to support students in periods of transition.
“Each time I sat with her, we’d have a coffee, and she loved Coca-Cola, so I would bring her a black coffee and a Coca-Cola,” Moran said. “She would always remember me. She would ask about my family and how my program was going.”
Moran said she continued to visit Schmidt in her office until her retirement, when she transitioned to visiting Schmidt in her downtown apartment.
“She just always kept her door open,” Moran said. “Literally and figuratively.”
2015 alum Mary Beth Dennis said she was very involved with campus ministry during her time at Loyola, which led to her relationship with Schmidt. She and her fellow students would often walk Schmidt home.
“I got to know her in those really quiet moments and spent a lot of time talking to her in random pockets of undergraduate life,” Dennis said. “Invited to her dorm room for prayer services and prayer groups, loved watching her get excited when she saw endcaps in Jewel-Osco and bought the fun cookie mixes and she made them for us — she got a lot of joy out of watching us enjoy those cookies.”
Second-year dance and psychology major Olivia Lenihan, said she felt like she didn’t have enough conversations with Schmidt before her death, so attending her funeral was a way to make up for it.
“I felt like I didn’t really have many interactions with her during the school year, and I kind of regretted that,” Lenihan said. “I’d go by her office, but there normally would always be somebody in there.”
The morning after her wake, students lined up in advance to attend the funeral mass in Madonna Della Strada at 9 a.m.. The church quickly reached capacity, and students who weren’t granted entry were directed to Ann Rooney Hall in Mundelein, where a live stream of the church service was projected at the front of the room.
The service began with a greeting from Reed before Schmidt’s casket was carried into the chapel by her pallbearers — Valentine, men’s basketball assistant coach Keith Clamons, Senior Associate Athletics Director Thomas Hitcho, Campus Safety Lieutenants Cal Murray and Kevin Newman, Hall of Fame former men’s basketball player Allan Norville, Associate Athletic Director for Corporate Sponsorship Patrick Shultz and Athletic Director Stephen Watson.
After the conclusion of the processional, Sister Mary Ann Zollmann, BVM, began the eulogy. She reflected on Schmidt’s commitment to God, pointing to her childhood dream of becoming a BVM sister as proof.
Zollmann said she thinks Schmidt and basketball were meant to go together — she needed them just as much as they needed her. She said Schmidt adored the players and loved to talk about basketball any opportunity she had.
Outside of basketball, Schmidt played a vital role in helping to guide students on their faith journey and support them through the transition of college.
“The electricity between Jean and the Ramblers was about more than a singular stellar season,” Zollman said. “It was about the perennial experience of an exceptional human community. She remembers a player anxious about going home to a parental divorce. Another who was awkward on the bench, but whose enthusiasm encouraged the team. She remembers the team mascot, anonymous under his LU Wolf disguise, but known to her — whom he trusted with his life.”
Zollmann said no matter how long Schmidt’s life may have been, it doesn’t make the goodbye any easier.
“After over a century of being the giver of love, it was difficult to make the transition from being love, to being loved,” Zollmann said. “Until, in the quiet darkness of an October night, God enveloped Jean in a love impossible to resist, and she let go to receive an eternity of love.”
Schmidt was preceded in death by both of her parents and her two brothers but is survived by her sister-in-law, her nieces and her grand nieces and nephews — some of whom were present at the service.
Communion was offered to both the students in Madonna Della Strada and Ann Rooney Hall — including the option to receive a blessing without communion for non-Catholic students.
The choir sang “Sing with all the Saints in Glory” as Schmidt’s casket was escorted out of the church to the hearse waiting outside.
Outside, students who weren’t in the service flocked to the area for final goodbyes to the nun — some students who were in class leaned out of the exit of Mundelein with professors and watched as a bagpipe player led Schmidt’s hearse to the road.
Afterwards, students congregated in the Damen Atrium for a reception, which included food, a slideshow of photos of Schmidt and a table displaying her custom Loyola tennis shoes and jacket.
At the reception, Father Jerry Overbeck, S.J., said he first met Schmidt in the 70s a few years after she began working at Mundelein College. He said he will miss her sense of humor and her feistiness.
“She would just light up when a student would come into her presence,” Overbeck said. “It just verified for me how much students give her, not just she gives students. It’s very mutual.”
Recent neuroscience graduate Megan McCaron was in attendance at the reception in Damen following the funeral service. She said she was grateful for the time she had with Schmidt during her time at the school.
“I was lucky enough to have all four years of my school be with Sister Jean,” McCaron said. “She was always around… every time I would cut through Damen I would always either see her working or around interacting with the students. It just felt kind of wrong to not come by and still dedicate time to her as she would dedicate time to us.”
McCaron said it was motivational to students to see someone still so active and hardworking, even at 106.
Second-year engineering student Carter Geise sang in the choir at the funeral mass. He said the group — which he was recruited for — only had one rehearsal the night before the mass.
“I was truly honored to have that privilege to use music to honor Sister Jean’s life and honor the legacy that she’ll leave behind,” Geise said. “I think music plays a really key role in people’s emotions especially at events like this.”
Geise said he thought the wake and mass were put together very well and left him feeling a connection to Schmidt he didn’t have before.
“I feel like I’m really able to understand and feel her legacy through last night’s service and today’s service,” Geise said. “Sharing the stories of her kindness really makes it easy to put together her character.”
During the church service, Zollmann said Schmidt was confident she was going to the mansion of heaven — and made that clear. Zollmann described what she thought Jean’s heaven would look like.
“Her mansion is a replica of her office on the first floor of Damen Student Center,” Zollmann said. “It has a large, clear window and a wide open door through which she can see the residents of heaven. Not passing by, but lined up for a visit with her. The line literally stretches into eternity.”
Before she died, Zollmann said Schmidt wrote that she wasn’t afraid of death.
“God has blessed me with an amazing life,” Schmidt wrote. “I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me next.”
Editors note: This article was updated Oct. 26 to correct the spelling of Lucas Williamson’s name.
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