Sister Generose Gervais
Sister Generose Gervais, longtime administrator of Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester and president of the Poverello Foundation, died Friday, October 7, 2016, in the hospital she served for so many years. She was 97.
“Sister Generose was known for her faith, her quiet leadership, her wise counsel, her dedication to patients and staff, her sense of humor and the example of service that she lived every day,” Mayo Clinic CEO and President Dr. John Noseworthy said in an announcement of her death. “Mayo Clinic was blessed by her presence for more than 60 years.”
Jeanne Rose Gervais took the name of Sister Generose Gervais at age 18. Generose combined Jeanne Rose, the name of favorite uncle Eugene and the name of her godmother and aunt Rose.
A longtime figure at Saint Marys Hospital, she was named as administrator in 1971 and she continued to lead the hospital until 1985. Friends and co-workers remember her as hard-working and tough as well as humorous and caring.
During her time as administrator, she oversaw the construction of the Mary Brigh Building. At the time, the new building was the largest single hospital building project in Minnesota. Following the completion of the building in 1981, Sister Generose was named to the new position of executive director of Saint Marys Hospital.
Sister Generose was famous for the pickles and many types of jams and jellies she made for many years to raise money for the hospital and for the Poverello Foundation. She founded the Poverello Foundation in 1983 to help patients with medical expenses. The fund has paid millions of dollars in medical bills over the years.
“She was a mentor, a friend and a sister,” said Sister Lauren Weinandt, who worked with Sister Generose for many years and organized the annual Sister Sale to raise money for the Poverello Foundation. “She loved her faith, her religious community, her family and her ministry of healing at Saint Marys. She showed that love through her generous spirit, her sense of humor and love.”
“She served on so many boards and organizations, but her pleasures were simple. She enjoyed life, a cup of cappuccino and a cookie, peanut M&Ms, a Twins game and a good joke in the afternoon.”
Raised during the Great Depression, Sister Generose was known for her thriftiness and business sense. In 1979, she was the first woman appointed to the nationally prestigious board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Gervais often said, “no money, no mission.” But she added that, “no mission, no need for money.”
A native of Currie, Minn., she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Francis in Rochester in 1938 at the age of 18. She trained as a teacher, but her career took a different path when she attended Stout State University in Menomonie, Wis., to study nutrition. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1945, she began a dietetics internship at Saint Marys Hospital the same year. In 1954, she received a master’s degree in hospital administration from the University of Minnesota.
She stepped down from her formal leadership position in 1985, but remained involved in the hospital. She was instrumental in the integration of Saint Marys Hospital with Mayo Clinic in 1986. In 1993, Mayo Clinic honored Sister Generose by naming its new mental health care facility on the Saint Marys campus after her. In 2011, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Catholic Health Association of the United States for leadership that extended beyond the local community and served to inspire others.
“Her door was always open, and anyone who passed by and wanted to stop and visit (and so many did) was always welcome … And you never left that office without receiving her blessing,” remembers Sister Tierney Trueman, coordinator of the Mayo Clinic Values Council. “Her empty office echoes the message Francis left his followers: “I have done what is mine to do, may God give you the strength to do what is yours.”
Sister Generose was a sister of Glenna (Dr. Frank J.) Boyle of Springfield.