Sister Jeanne d’Arc Kilwein Talks Baseball
By: Russ Mancl
If you ever want to get the attention of Sister Jeanne d’Arc, ask her how the Milwaukee Brewers are doing. She doesn’t claim to know everything about the team, or for that matter the game, but you would be hard pressed to find anyone more dedicated to the sport.
“My interest in baseball goes way back in history when I was a little kid, say 2 or 3 years old. My dad used to take me to ball games on Saturday afternoons in Post Falls, Idaho. I would sit or climb around on the bleachers. That was my beginning,” Sister said.
The Kilweins moved to North Dakota, and over a period of time she played ball with the boys in the little country school because there weren’t enough boys to fill the positions. “Our house was a center for baseball on Sunday afternoons. We had a good-sized place to have a large diamond. My dad was the umpire and the different boys from the neighborhood would come over and I was the score keeper. I didn’t play with the big boys because that was too risky. I grew up with baseballs and you would find bats, balls and mitts all over the house. I never played with dolls,” she chuckled.
Sister, who was known as Celestine at the time, worked with her dad in the fields while her older sister helped her mom. The 1920’s were bad times according to Sister. The radio was just coming in when she was in the 5th grade. “If we were good in school, the teacher would let us listen to the playoffs during school time. We didn’t have such things as radios in our house,” she said.
Another favorite pastime of Sister Jeanne d’ Arc has always been reading. She would read everything she could get a-hold of, and that included stories on the lives of baseball players like Babe Ruth and others.
“My all-time favorite Milwaukee Brewer players are Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. I remember the rivalry between the Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee teams, way back, I still remember that,” Sister said.
When she was a young sister, she didn’t get to listen to the games on the radio, so she kept up-to-date with the newspaper. Then a little later on she could listen to the radio and would turn on the games only to find out that she was in the minority for those showing interest in the game. “Years later when I was beginning to retire, I used to do jig-saw puzzles while listening to the game on a portable radio with the sound way down. Since then I’ve been listening to the games whenever I can.”
When asked what she liked about the current Milwaukee Brewers team she paused and said, “Well some days you wonder. When I think back 10-15 years ago there was a different kind of spirit in the game. Now there is so much competition. If you don’t win you’re nothing. It’s a win-win thing and I think it kind of spoils the game sometimes. Instead of just enjoying what happens on either side. Now it’s to win and for money. But that’s the spirit of the world today…if you don’t win, you’re nothing,” according to Sister Jeanne d’Arc.
Sister crochets or embroiders during the games, except for Sunday. “I just sit and relax on Sundays if I can. I enjoy Bob Uecker, the voice of the Brewers’, and all his play-by-play antics. I can’t watch TV. Motion gets me. I never watch TV unless it’s something that our community wants us to watch,” she said.
Sister Jeanne d’ Arc traveled to see the Brewers play the Twins in Minnesota with Sister Peggy Jackelen and Sister Mary Anne Rose and remembers seeing a game in Milwaukee, too. But she prefers creating her own pictures of the game listening to the radio, plus she isn’t distracted by people moving around, drinking and eating, and taking away from what’s happening on the field.
One of her prized possessions is a Trevor Hoffman bobblehead doll that was recently given to her as a gift. She was quick to let me know that Trevor is a relief pitcher for the Brewers. Another is the book, “And God Said Play Ball,” by Gary Graf. That was a gift from Sister Jeanne Marie Braun. It draws parallels between baseball and the Bible and has profound lessons for life.
Sister Jeanne d’Arc resides at Bell Tower Residence in Merrill, WI. She will turn 92 in September and will mark her 72 year as a Holy Cross Sister. She hopes the Brewers help mark the occasion by getting into the playoffs again this year.