Sister Alice was born in Nebraska on a farm near the town of Dixon. Her parents were Martin and Bertha McAllister Conway. Sister was one of 10 children, 6 brothers and 3 sisters. In the rural school of Holt County, Nebraska Sister Alice received her elementary school education; high school was at St. Mary’s in Panama, Iowa and college at Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kansas. Her on-going education was at Regis University in Denver, Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. In 1933 she entered the novitiate of Mt. St. Scholastica and in 1938 made her Perpetual Monastic Profession.
Her ministry experiences have been full. For 43 years she taught elementary school and junior high, in a 3-state area: Colorado, Iowa and Kansas. In 1946 Sister Alice came to minister in the San Luis valley of Colorado and stayed, becoming a chartered member of Benet Hill Monastery.
The years have been kind to Sister Alice, and she has been kind to them. She also shared in the ministry at Benet Pines Retreat Center. Her hospitality and generosity to the retreatants was always in concert with the values of Benedict. Her love for the earth and her Benedictine values were evident in the lush beauty of the gardens she most tenderly nurtured at Benet Pines and the Monastery.
Born into an Irish ancestry, Sister Alice is remembered for the twinkle in her eye, a knowing smile and her Irish wit.
