March 7, 1927 – December 22, 2018

Sister Colette (Patricia) Jokerst, OSU, died peacefully Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018. She was a resident of St. Andrew’s at Francis Place in Eureka, Missouri.

The daughter of Joseph and Josephine Huber Jokerst, she was born on March 7, 1927, in Crystal City, Missouri. She received her elementary and secondary education in Crystal City. She entered the Ursuline community in July 1946 and professed her vows in January 1949.

Sister Colette earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at the College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York, and a master’s degree in religious studies at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. During her many years of ministry, Sister Colette served in San Antonio, Texas; Decatur, Oak Park, Springfield and Alton, Illinois; and Kirkwood, Crystal City and Portageville, Missouri. She taught in elementary and secondary schools, served as a pastoral assistant and in the formation of young religious, and in religious education. She served well into her eighties as a member of the pastoral care team at the Ursuline Sisters’ infirmary in Alton.

She is survived by two sisters, Bernice Hardin and Dorothy Bequette, and several nieces, nephews and cousins. She was preceded in death by four sisters: Sister Lucy Jokerst, OSU; Sister Elaine Jokerst, OSU; Corinne DeClue and Ursula Jokerst; and by two brothers, Benjamin and Leonard Jokerst.

Sister Colette’s final gift was to give her body for science to St. Louis University School of Medicine.

A celebration of Sister Colette’s life was held Dec. 29 at Ursuline Academy in Kirkwood, Missouri.