Madelyn James Obituary

Do you think there are any math mistakes in heaven? If there were, Sr. Donald will have corrected them by now. Like others that have written here, Sr. Donald and her observations are with me even now. I hear myself quoting her, "It will all come out in the wash," her favorite saying as she passed out test papers. Then when she returned my algebra test she would fling it down with a disgusted, "You have more luck than sense," since she knew I have no idea what I was doing but had merely memorized the formulas to pass the test. What an amazing legacy she has left for all of us lucky Naz grads.

We have experinced a great loss and yet rejoice that "Dee" is at rest and at peace. She was always one of the people whom you knew would be at the annual Assembly and that was always a joyful renewal. Our deep sympathy to Sister Pat, her family and our family "Sisters For Christian Community". She will continue to be with us at our annual Assembly Memorial.

Sister Mary Donald James - affectionally known as Sr. Dee - was in my Religious Community, Sisters For Christian Community. She was a warm and caring person and so very generous with her time and talent. Sr. D will be remembered always by those who knew her. I feel very fortunate to have been her friend.

Donald James was always present at the SFCC International Assembly and held us to fiscal responsibility. Her presence will be missed.

My sympathies to Sr. Donald James' family and friends, especially Sr. Pat. We benefitted from Sr. Donald James' financial management of several of our Assemblies -- because of her mathmatical abilities. We will miss her but we know she will be 'with us' with our Sisters in the heavenly Assembly.

In My Pocket

I have memories in my pocket.
They rattle among the change.

My memories of you are treasures I carry wherever I go.

They are stored in bits and pieces, parts of a beautiful whole
They give me comfort when I think I am alone.

Yes, I have memories in my pocket, like so much other stuff I keep there.

But of all the treasures I have, it’s the memories of you that are the most precious.

We just wanted to add our deepest sympathy and assure you of your prayers for Donald and for all of you during this time of sorrow. Sr. Barbara Marshall and Shirley Crisler, SFCC

Our sister, "Donald James SFCC" always impressed me with her committment to the sisters, her willingess to work the financial aspects of our meetings and her presence amongst us.

The loss of Sr. Donald will be felt by many who loved her. Our prayers are for those who will miss her.

Sr. Emma K. Flaherty, sfcc
Sr. Marion McDonald, sfcc

My sympathy to the James family and to Sr. Pat. The entire SFCC family was shocked at her death as we had just seen her at the annual International Assembly in Florida in August. I shall always remember her dedication, her concern for accuracy in accounting matters, and her generosity. May she rest in peace. And may her family find some comfort in reading all the tributes to this amazing teacher and religious.

To the James Family, Sr. Pat and the Sisters of St. Joseph at Nazareth, and the Sisters for Christian Community,
There are no words that can adequately express the void that Sr. "Dee" leaves in our hearts. Her kindness, generosity, and wonderful sense of humor will be sorely missed.
As her students have expressed, she was a no-nonsense person...yet we had such wonderful times together at our Assemblies and afterwards, camping and exploring our beautiful country. She'd plan the route with as much vigor as she taught Math. One of my favorite memories is when she told me to be sure to take the hypotenuse around Macon, Ga. on our way to Chicago. Being an English teacher, I found that hard to visualize. Other times, she could take one look at a report and note the mistake in Math. We admired and loved her dearly.
We extend our prayerful sympathy to the family and all who knew and loved her too. May the thought of her joy in Heaven ease the pain you feel on earth. God be with you to give you strength and courage during this difficult time. With loving prayer,

Wow, I never expected Sr. Donald had any other name but Sr. Donald. How sad I was to hear of her passing. She taught me Algebra II and I distinctly remember that being only time I ever came home with a D. What a tough teacher. But she taught me well. We used to say she could smell a guy within a 12 block radius because boys weren't allowed in the school at the time. My, how things have changed!

My deepest condolences to her family and may she rest in peace. She certainly deserves it!

I am sure I am repeating others' posts but...
Sr. Donald could freeze boiling water at 100 yards with one of her looks. She was intimidating but she set high standards that served us well. How many of her sayings come into my head almost every day?:
"It doesn't amount to a hill of beans."
"Garbage in, garbage out."
"No machine is smarter than its operator."
"If you build a house and leave a brick out of place and it all falls down do you think you will get partial credit for the house?"

That last one was her explanation as to why she refused to give partial credit on test problems - either you had it right or you had it wrong - 100 % or 0 and nothing in between. I remember being indignant at the unfairness of it all.

She taught me for two years of math, one year of physics and one summer class of Computer Science.

She was so ahead of her time on computers. In 1970 she went down to IIT, I think, and took a course and then did a summer class for us. She got LTHS to let us use their key punching machines and their IBM 360 (?) computer and she taught us Fortran IV. Everything I have learned about computers has been easier than that first class! I once made a mistake on a program that put the computer in a indefinite "do loop". No one was watching the machine so it went on for over 30 minutes spewing paper all over the room. Sr. Donald made quite a show of "presenting" the paper to me with the statement, "Stupid mistakes, stupid mistakes." And that wasn't the last time she said that to me.

I fear I never lived up to her expectations but I know that I would not have gone on to achieve what I have in science and computers if I had not had her during those formative years. I wrote her that once many years later. She had a way of putting a backbone into you.

Finally, we must recall those heady years of 1967-1971 when the place of women in society and the sciences and math were hotly debated. Although I do not remember Sr. Donald making any direct comments on this subject it was obvious to us all that she expected us to do just fine at whatever we put our minds to and all this worry of what girls could do was utter rot and nonsense. I found out later that in her own high school years she rebuilt car engines and had a jalopy to drive around - no surprise there.

She was a treasure. My only regret is that she cannot teach my daughters.

NAZ Class of '71

Sister Donald appeared very strict during the first day of my Sophmore math class. I later learned she had a heart of gold and would go to great lengths if a student was having trouble in her class. I was fortunate to have her for Math and Physics during my Junior and Senior years. I will never forget her words as we discussed different math concepts "it doesn't amount to a hill of beans". She left lasting impressions on many of us that were fortunate to have her as our teacher.

Sister Donald was one of my favorite teachers at Nazareth. I will remember her in a cloud of chalk dust madly writing algebraic formulas on the blackboard. One day, we had a free class and she chose to demonstrate how to take apart an auto engine. Because she expected a lot of us, we felt compelled to excel.

Rest in Peace, Sr. Donald. You took your responsibility as a teacher very seriously, but always with that special twinkle in your eyes! We were so afraid of you the first day of class, but quickly learned to see beyond your stern demeanor. That act of yours worked for about a week! I will never forget, many years later, buying my kids' tickets from you at the ticket booth for the Countryside Fair -- what a pleasant surprise, and I was honored that you remembered me. Thank you, Sr. Donald, for being there for so many people! The world will miss the likes of you!

My
deepest sympathy to the family. Sr. Donald was one of the most memorable
teachers in high school. She had high expectations and was absolutely brilliant.

She was part of my inspiration to pursue a teaching career. Dr. Christine
Melone '67

Our condolences to Dottie and her wonderful family. "Sr.D" was so sweet and friendly at all the family gatherings...she was such a special lady to all of the James Family.

When I think of Sr. D, I think of seagulls on the sand, long evenings spent playing gin rummy, my first ever plane flight, and many summer adventures. She loved meeting new people, she loved seeing the world, she loved teaching and she taught me so much about life. She was my great aunt and she helped to shape my life, like many others. And like many, I loved her and will miss her. I took this photo in Poland, in the summer of 2000. This is the smile I will remember!

My favorite teacher of all time. She had the patience of a saint, believe me! I had her for math classes and for physics during the 60's. She would often call me Einstein (which I wasn't) and then laugh and explain everything to me until I finally would get it all. A brilliant teacher! I was one of the lucky students who had her for a teacher. She must have touched many lives over the years. My thoughts and prayers are with her and with her family.

My thoughts and prayers are with the James family. I didn't know sister Donald but was a classmate of Donald's at St.Francis Xavier class of 1956. I have fond memories of him. With sincere sympathy,
Mary Jean Coyle Weiland

A wonderful woman has gone to God. I was taught by her ( Physics ) and worked with her at OLB. We laughed heartily. My condolences to the James Family and to the CSJ Family on their loss.

Sister Donald had the patience of Job with me for Algebra II. I have always appreciated that - to this day.

My deepest sympathy to Sr. Donald's family. She was my Algebra I teacher in 1962, and I knew her as an incredibly dedicated woman.

Sister Donald was my algebra teacher in my freshman and junior years at Naz. She was the most demanding teacher I had in high school, but because of that I learned not only the principles of algebra, but also how to master difficult tasks. She truly cared about every student in her class, and I will never forget her. Just recently, as I have been helping my son with his pre-algebra homework, I have been remembering her and some of her pet phrases. She was a star!
My sincere condolences to the James family. Take comfort in the fact that she was a positive influence on so many lives!
Roseanne Krinski, M. D.
Class of 1969

My Freshman Algebra teacher; dear Sr Donald, you will be remembered as the teacher who made me reach and believe in myself. Whenever my days have been tough over the years, I always remember your confidence in me. May everyone have a Sr Donald in their lives. Rest in Peace. You deserve it.

Sr. Donald was a great teacher and an interesting, strong, witty woman. She and her family were much respected, both at Nazareth and in the larger La Grange area communities.

To Sr. Donald's entire family:
My deepest sympathies on the loss of such a great teacher. I had the pleasure of being her student at Nazareth Academy as well as having her as my catacist at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Melrose Park. She and the late Sister Ethel Vaca were wonderful teachers have touched all of her students in a way that only she could. She gave all of us something to strive toward as a human being. She will be greatly missed by all who had the honor of being her student. I was a graduate of the class of '69 which I'm sure gave her many headaches but I think she was very proud of the way we turned out.

I did not have Sister Donald, but I do remember her teaching Algebra I and Physics. My thoughts and prayers go out to the whole James family. Our teachers were some of the best. Nancy Czer (Piotrowski), Class of 63.

Oh, my! I am so upset! It has been 43 years since I had Sr. Donald as a math teacher. She never knew how much she influenced my high school and college days. I had planned on being a math teacher because of her encouragement. I have only seen her once since graduation, but she has always been in my heart and prayers, where she will remain with me. I loved Sr. Donald!! I send sympathies to her family. She will always be remembered by me.

Sr. Donald was one of the biggest influences in my life. I still talk about her physics and algebra classes. What a great teacher!
I invited her to speak, by popular demand, at our 20th reunion of the class of '69 and she didn't disappoint. The last time I saw her was at Hallowell & James at my dad's wake in 1995, when she emerged from her bookkeeping duties to offer condolences. She showed me the 16-column spreadsheet she maintained manually and told me how Microsoft's program was erroneous because it added a hundredth of a percentage point (or something like that), so she did it manually to get it right.
May she rest in peace!

I had Sr. Donald for Algebra I, Algebra II, and Physics. She made the difficult topics easy to learn. She always said "I don't care if you ask the same question a million times, as long as you ask the question until you understand. Her speed at the chalkboard was legendary. In short, she was simply the best. May she rest in peace.

Mary LaMarche Ouska, class of 1969

I HAVE FOND MEMORIES OF SISTER FROM MY DAYS AT SCHOOL IN THE EARLY SIXTIES. SHE WAS ALWAYS PLEASANT AND SEEM TO ENJOY LIFE. I KNOW SHE WILL BE MISSED.

Sr. D will be missed. She and her family will be in my prayers.

Sister D was an amazing person she will be missed not only by myself but by the entire Nazareth family.

Rest in Peace, Sr. Donald. Condolences to the James family.
Nazareth Class of 1965

Sr. Donald was such a wonderful person. I always enjoyed her presence at Nazareth Academy, especially as a substitute teacher. I loved talking to Sr. D any chance I could get get. I will never forget how genuinely kind and sweet she was. My deepest condolences go out to Sr. D's family and to Sr. Pat.

ALTHOUGH, I DID NOT HAVE THE PLEASURE OF MEETING NOR DID I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF KNOWING SR. DONALD JAMES.

ANYWAY, MY MOST SINCERE SYMPATHY AND CONDOLENCES TO THE FAMILY OF SR. DONALD JAMES. MAY SHE REST IN PEACE IN HER NEW HOME.

MIRA CHABRA DEVA '59

Rest in Peace Sister.

Our deepest sympathy and condolences go out to the Nazareth Academy Community upon the passing of Sr. Donald James.

Sr. Donald was a dear friend of many years, as well as a very generous benefactor. I will miss her very much. I pray God's richest blessings on Sr. Pat and Dee's family.

Please accept my condolences to the entire James Family and SFCC Family. Sister Donald was a dedicated teacher and devout Christian. May her soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.

Tom Geraghty, President
Driscoll Catholic High School

Please know that our prayers are with you and your family.