Sr. Mary DePazzi, an expert in bonsai
Sister Mary DePazzi always had an interest in trees, then learned she could have a forest of them covering a table top.
Bonsai, the cultivation of miniature trees, has been described as a four-dimensional art form - living sculpture.
"Bonsai is almost a painting," said Sister DePazzi, one of the region's foremost practitioners of the Japanese art.
Although legally blind for more than five decades, Sister DePazzi served her faith for 68 years, and helped found the Bonsai Society of Cincinnati and Radio Reading Services for the Blind.
She suffered a stroke in recent years. She died at Lourdes Hall, St. Joseph Heights, Park Hills on Friday. She was 89.
Sister DePazzi was born in Jamestown, Ohio, in 1916 as Catherine Shane.
After graduating from Notre Dame Academy in Covington, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1935 and made her first vows in 1937.
After her first five-month service at a Notre Dame House in Aurora, Ill., she returned to Cincinnati and worked at St. Aloysius Orphanage in Bond Hill. After eight years she transferred to a Winnebago Indian Reservation school in Nebraska, then returned to St. Aloysius and continued to serve another 24 years.
At the orphanage, she was group mother and substitute teacher, and also served as a child-care worker and health care provider to the children.
In 1972, Sister DePazzi moved to St. Joseph Heights of Park Hills.
In the early 1950s, Sister DePazzi's eyesight began to fail due to macular degeneration, but she did not let it get in the way of her interests.
She became an avid "reader" of taped books, said Sister Carol Baglan of Covington.
"When I learned about the books and magazines on tape," Sister DePazzi said in 2001, "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!"
In order to help others who were visually impaired, she became one of the founders of Radio Reading Services for the Blind. She served on the local board in Cincinnati, state board in Columbus and on the committee for 15 years.
Sister DePazzi was also doing bonsai and exhibiting with other enthusiasts before the Cincinnati Bonsai Society was formed in 1964. She belonged to all the committees and served as president from 1977 to 1979.
"She never let (blindness) stop her from what she wanted to do," said Baglan. "She would take her walking stick, get on a bus and go to her organizations. She was out and involved."
Some of Sister DePazzi's bonsai trees can be found at the permanent Krohn Conservatory Bonsai Collection. She asked that one of the trees from the conservatory be buried with her.
Survivors include a nephew, Richard Shane of Dayton, Ohio; a niece, Mary Kay Counos of Wilbraham, Mass.; and several great-nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be from 4-6:30 p.m. with a Mass of Christian burial at 7 p.m. today at the Provincial House at St. Joseph Heights, Park Hills. Burial will be at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the convent cemetery in Park Hills. Middendorf-Bullock Funeral Home in Covington is handling arrangements.
Bonsai, the cultivation of miniature trees, has been described as a four-dimensional art form - living sculpture.
"Bonsai is almost a painting," said Sister DePazzi, one of the region's foremost practitioners of the Japanese art.
Although legally blind for more than five decades, Sister DePazzi served her faith for 68 years, and helped found the Bonsai Society of Cincinnati and Radio Reading Services for the Blind.
She suffered a stroke in recent years. She died at Lourdes Hall, St. Joseph Heights, Park Hills on Friday. She was 89.
Sister DePazzi was born in Jamestown, Ohio, in 1916 as Catherine Shane.
After graduating from Notre Dame Academy in Covington, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1935 and made her first vows in 1937.
After her first five-month service at a Notre Dame House in Aurora, Ill., she returned to Cincinnati and worked at St. Aloysius Orphanage in Bond Hill. After eight years she transferred to a Winnebago Indian Reservation school in Nebraska, then returned to St. Aloysius and continued to serve another 24 years.
At the orphanage, she was group mother and substitute teacher, and also served as a child-care worker and health care provider to the children.
In 1972, Sister DePazzi moved to St. Joseph Heights of Park Hills.
In the early 1950s, Sister DePazzi's eyesight began to fail due to macular degeneration, but she did not let it get in the way of her interests.
She became an avid "reader" of taped books, said Sister Carol Baglan of Covington.
"When I learned about the books and magazines on tape," Sister DePazzi said in 2001, "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!"
In order to help others who were visually impaired, she became one of the founders of Radio Reading Services for the Blind. She served on the local board in Cincinnati, state board in Columbus and on the committee for 15 years.
Sister DePazzi was also doing bonsai and exhibiting with other enthusiasts before the Cincinnati Bonsai Society was formed in 1964. She belonged to all the committees and served as president from 1977 to 1979.
"She never let (blindness) stop her from what she wanted to do," said Baglan. "She would take her walking stick, get on a bus and go to her organizations. She was out and involved."
Some of Sister DePazzi's bonsai trees can be found at the permanent Krohn Conservatory Bonsai Collection. She asked that one of the trees from the conservatory be buried with her.
Survivors include a nephew, Richard Shane of Dayton, Ohio; a niece, Mary Kay Counos of Wilbraham, Mass.; and several great-nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be from 4-6:30 p.m. with a Mass of Christian burial at 7 p.m. today at the Provincial House at St. Joseph Heights, Park Hills. Burial will be at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the convent cemetery in Park Hills. Middendorf-Bullock Funeral Home in Covington is handling arrangements.
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posted by Davor Novakovic @ Monday, December 05, 2005
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