VIRTUAL Funeral Service Information

Age: 94

Born: 02-22-1926

Died: 05-28-2020

Lucile A. Kalkman, 94, of St. Cloud passed away on Thursday, May 28, 2020 at Country Manor in Sartell. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, a private Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:30 am Tuesday, June 2, at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, St. Cloud.  Reverend Thomas Olson will officiate. Burial will take place in Calvary Cemetery in St. Cloud.

Lucile was born on February 22, 1926 in St. Cloud to August and Lucy (Hingsberger) Schwankl. Lucile married John “Jack” Kalkman on September 5th, 1947 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in St. Cloud. Lucile graduated from the St. Cloud Hospital School of Nursing, and worked as a nurse at the St. Cloud Hospital, retiring in 1980. She was a charter member of St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Christian Women, Daughters of Isabella and the Nurses Alumni.

Jack and Lucile enjoyed their cabin with their children and grandchildren. They wintered in Mission, Texas for 15 years, and enjoyed travelling all over North America including Alaska. They felt very blessed to have travelled to Medjugorje and honored to have met Pope John Paul II. Strongly supporting Catholic education, for 24 consecutive years there was at least one of their 10 children at Cathedral High School. Lucile is warmly remembered for her patience, her faith, and her potato salad!

She is survived by her children, Cindy Hoene (Mike), Ft. Myers, FL, Jim (Debbie) Winfield, IL, Dave (Debbie) Gardner, KS, Chuck (Sharon) Sartell, John (Karen) Sauk Rapids, Paul (Gaily) Sherwood, OR, Mary, Burnsville, Joe (Cathy) Eagan, Bill (Marcia) Gilbert, AZ, Joan (Kuch) Kalkman St. Paul, 27 grandchildren, 52 great-grandchildren; brother, Chuck Schwankl, Overland Park, KS, and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband in 2016, son Steve in 2016, granddaughters Marissa Hoene in 1980 and Gabriella in 1998, and 7 siblings. Memorials may be sent to Cathedral High School or St. Peter’s parish.

Daniel Funeral Homes

Good morning. I’m Joe Kalkman, Lucile and Jack’s eighth child. On behalf of my siblings Cindy, Jim, Dave, Chuck, John, Paul, Mary and Bill, and our spouses, I’d like to welcome you, and thank you for joining us today to celebrate the life of this extraordinary, ordinary woman. Mother Theresa says, “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Lucile was a champion of doing small things with great love.

Mom grew up simply, herself one of nine children, and a child of the Great Depression. During WWII she was, quite literally, a Rosie the Riveter, working in a factory riveting airplane parts. After graduating from Cathedral High School, she went to the St. Cloud Hospital School of Nursing and became an RN. One evening at a dancehall, she met a handsome, story-telling GI newly returned from the war in Europe, and fell in love with our dad, Jack. They married and had 10 kids, lived in the same house for 6 decades, and were married 68 years before Dad died. They had a lake cabin, retired, traveled, and ended their lives in long-term care. I said an ordinary woman – like so many of the Greatest Generation – Lucile lived her life with little fanfare, no awards, no headlines, no accolades.

And yet, she was not ordinary. She was oh so extraordinary. My brother Bill said the only word he could come up with to define Mom was “indescribable”. If you knew her, if you only just met her, you sensed her calm, her patience, her grace, her quiet strength, and her resolve. She embodied “simple things with great Love”. 

Lucile raised 10 kids on an income and in a home simply not big enough. She loved to play Yahtzee and her favorite roll was a Full House – I think perhaps it’s because the term “full house” made her feel at home! She made three meals a day, for a family of 12, in an impossibly small kitchen. For most of us, if we are hosting dinner for 12, we prepare for it for over a week! Mom did it every day. And laundry…and bath time, oh my. Every month, she gave haircuts in that same small kitchen to a line-up of boys. She paid bills from a desk covered with everyone else’s stuff (she had no space of her own), and somehow made ends meet. She belonged to the Church, she and Dad were founding members of this church, and she committed her life to serving God by living her life as Jesus did. She loved the Virgin Mary, led the Rosary before daily mass for years, and had a life-affirming experience with Dad in Yugoslavia at Medjegorie. Even so, Lucile endured marriage with an alcoholic husband, confronted him and his disease, and supported him into sobriety – one that lasted over 40 years. She did all of it with great love.

As a Grandma, she was equal parts loving embrace and North Star constant. In an era when it seems that so much is relative and ambiguous and confusing, Grandma Lucy was crystal clear in her beliefs, in her sense of right and wrong, in her positivity and her unwavering patience. She made it comfortable for us to visit her at Country Manor. She laughed easily, accepted the shrinking limits of her world, was gracious and even grateful when many of us would have soured. One evening I was visiting her and she said, “I love my bed. You know, if you have a great bed, what more could you ask for!” I thought to myself, “how about asking for the ability to walk again? Or to have your son still alive, or your freedom to live independently?” Instead, I said to her, “I’m so glad you love your bed Mom.” And she smiled.

You see, Lucile was somehow above it all. I know she suffered, much of her life, and yet she did not complain. I know she worried, much of her life, and yet she laughed with ease. I know she carried disappointments, much of her life, and yet she lived in gratitude. She was extraordinary. Bill said she was “indescribable.” I disagree. In fact, I think she was described perfectly by a writer 2,000 years ago. In a letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul described Love, and you’ll forgive a son’s bias for his mother, I think he was describing my mom. Listen and perhaps you’ll agree: 

Lucile is patient. Lucile is kind. 

She does not envy. She does not boast. She is not proud.

Lucile does not dishonor others, and is not self-seeking. 

She is not easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs.

Lucile does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the Truth.

She always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres.

Lucile was a shining, clarion example of Love on earth…and now, Love in heaven. Let us together celebrate her life, her example, and her new joy in joining the Saints who are now welcoming her into God’s Full House.