Sister Flora (Alvina) Klier died peacefully at Villa Saint Vincent on Friday, February 6, 2015. She was born in Park Rapids, Minnesota on May 2, 1924 the third of four children born to Mary (Thiesen) and Anthony Klier. Sister Flora began thinking about a religious profession when she was about fourteen because of the Benedictines who taught summer catechism in her parish of Two Inlets. She entered community on September 4, 1942 and made her final profession in August of 1947. Sister Flora remarked, in autobiographical information a few years ago, that living at the Mount has always been very special to her. She stated that all the beauty surrounding the monastery is just a little bit of heaven for her. Because of a very special skill at cooking, Sister Flora's first ministry was charge of the
dietary departments of hospitals in Detroit Lakes and Browerville, Minnesota for a number of years. She was then assigned to the dietary department of Mount Saint Benedict in Crookston (we at the monastery fondly remember her homemade angel food cake and other delights!). While working in the dietary department, she became interested in the large twelve-acre garden here at the Monastery under the direction of Sister Benigna. She was given charge of this garden in 1974, where she helped raise food for more than one hundred sisters at the Mount, for mission schools where more than fifty sisters worked, and also for Care and Share. Her volunteer helpers in the garden also were able to get the vegetables they needed for their own use. In the 1990's, she and her volunteers yearly raised 3, 735 pounds of potatoes, 21, 522 pounds of carrots, 11, 142 pounds of squash, 2, 544 pounds of peas, 1, 775 pounds of beans, 141 bushels of tomatoes, 850 pints of raspberries, 249 pints of strawberries, 2, 437 pounds of spinach, 777 pounds of lettuce, 12 bushels of large apples, 18 bushels of crab apples, and much more! Sister Flora was a master at good care of the soil, using only minimal fertilizer and pesticides. In order to enrich the soil, she planted buckwheat and later plowed the full-grown crop under. She used lady bugs purchased from a firm in California to combat aphids and also enlisted the help of cats to keep the mice and birds from stealing produce as well as a dog to scare away the deer. Not only was Sister Flora extremely talented with the garden, she also had artistic talent in cake making and decorating for weddings as well as wood carving. She belonged to the Wood Carvers' Club of this area and created intricate work. She also restructured broken statues and painted them for a number of a number of churches in the area.
Sister Flora was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters, Mathilda and Delores, and her brother, Marcellus. She is survived by a sister-in-law, Ida Klier a niece, Rose Pitcher, friends, and the members of her monastic community. Gifts in memory of Sister Flora are preferred to Mount Saint Benedict Foundation. Sister Flora Klier, OSB, age 90, of Mount St. Benedict in Crookston, MN, died late Friday evening at the Villa St. Vincent in Crookston. Sister's Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, February 11, 2015, at the Sacred Heart Chapel of Mount St. Benedict, 620 Summit Avenue, Crookston, MN, with Msgr. Roger Grundhaus, presiding. Visitation will be at the Sacred Heart Chapel on Tuesday from 5-7:00 p.m., with a 7:00 p.m. prayer service, and also for one hour prior to the Mass. Interment will be in the Mount St. Benedict Cemetery in the spring. Online registry:
www.stenshoelhouske.com
Funeral Home: Stenshoel-Houske Funeral Home 615 South Minnesota Street Crookston, MN US 56716
Previous Events
Visitation
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
5:00 PM
- 7:00 PM
Mount St. Benedict
620 Summit Avenue
Crookston, MN 56716
Prayer service at 7:00 p.m.
Service
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
11:00 AM
Mount St. Benedict
620 Summit Avenue
Crookston, MN 56716
Visitation for one hour prior to the Mass.
Cemetery Details
Location
Mount St. Benedict Cemetery
620 Summit Avenue
Crookston, MN 56716