A Woman of Intensity with Many Achievements

Aileen Gleason was a woman of intensity. Wherever she was in the world, whatever she did in the world, she lived with intensity. During her days on earth, she had an abiding fear that she might wind up living a mediocre life.  Today, looking back at Aileen’s life, we can say “little chance of that happening”.

Aileen has a long and well documented history of achievements, particularly in Canada, Rome and Kenya.  And while it is her many achievements we will remember and cherish, it is her humility, her kindness, her laughter and lovingness – even her crabbiness – that we will miss. 

The Importance of Education

Aileen’s sensibility to life was awakened in Watson, SK, where she was born on May 9, 1924, the second of six children.   Aileen’s parents were both teachers, and passed on to Aileen a keen sense of the importance of education. She grew up attending school in various places in Saskatchewan where her Father held teaching positions.

Call to Religious Life

In 1943, responding to a sense of call to religious life, Aileen entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions (RNDM) at Sacred Heart College in Regina.  She made her perpetual vows in 1952.

Teaching Career

Aileen taught for twenty years in elementary and secondary schools in Saskatoon, Regina, Brandon, and in Fort Frances as a supervising principal.  While teaching, she also took university courses, and gained Bachelor’s degrees in Arts and Education, as well as a Master’s in Education. She was an accomplished educator and administrator.

Helping Refugees in Rome

Following a Sabbatical in 1973, during which time she earned a diploma in theology, Aileen went to Rome where she set up the Congregational archives and served as local superior.  It was on the streets of Rome that Aileen began to meet young Ethiopian men, who had fled the violence of their country. Moved by their young lives which were now ‘on hold’, Aileen sought and found sponsorships for many of them through her Canadian friends and family connections.

Helping Refugees in Canada

In 1986, now back in Canada, Aileen took another step in her commitment to refugees when she was asked by the province to coordinate and develop a comprehensive refugee program.  Aileen gladly accepted. By 1991, when the number of sponsored refugees was reaching a thousand, Aileen began planning for a home to receive refugees.

The Founding of Hospitality House

In 1992, with the further support of the Anglican Diocese of Rupert’s Land, who offered the use of a parish house, Aileen was able to open a home to receive refugees in Winnipeg. Named “Hospitality House”, it was to be a place of welcome and safety for those who had experienced so little of either in life.

Welcoming Sponsored Refugees

Aileen worked on refugee applications, replied to the increasing volume of letters and then e-mails that arrived seeking her help, raised funds, and worked with various coalitions to raise awareness and support.  She was tireless. She welcomed most sponsored refugees in person at the Winnipeg airport and then companioned them as they settled into their new life in Canada.

Work in Kenya

In 2002, Aileen passed on her work as Director at Hospitality House, and looked around for her next challenge.  At 78, she asked to go to Kenya for about 18 months, to try to expedite the refugee applications of so many that were being slowed there, and to hasten the possibilities for people held in camps to come to Canada.

While that plan did not unfold as hoped, Aileen wound up staying in Kenya until 2007, and in that time she made a significant contribution to the formation of RNDM Sisters in Kenya, as well as setting up an Archives for the Kenyan RNDMs.  And all the while, she continued to strengthen her international networks with refugees, and to refer refugees she met on the streets to Hospitality House, friends, and family back in Canada.

Return to Canada and St. Benedict’s Place

On returning to Canada, Aileen settled at St. Benedict’s Place, where she could attend to her desire to spend more time in prayer and contemplation.  That desire for God and commitment to prayer were abiding threads in the fabric of Aileen’s life. She loved beauty and music and literature, and liked to wander riverbanks or stroll forest paths.  All were revelations of God.

Struggles with Change

For Aileen, change did not come easily.  She often struggled with change, sometimes railed against it.  But she continued to keep her heart open to the possibilities of change as well, and over the years she made many changes – in her thinking, in her living, in her opinions, in her behaviours.

Fear and Anxiety

For all her courage and determination, Aileen was also a woman who knew fear and anxiety.  One of her most endearing qualities may have been that in community Aileen was able to share some of those fears and stumblings – revealing how our “weaknesses” can be our paths to one another.  

Kindness and Perseverance

We weep for Aileen today because we loved this kind and tender woman who persevered through pain, misunderstandings, loneliness and fears, not for the sake of ambition or vanity; not for wealth or power; but for the people and the God she so loved.  The love she gave us, the commitments she held so fiercely, still light a path to guide us in this world.

Called to Eternal Life

Aileen has gone home now, guided by her faith and by the light of beloved family members, friends and Sisters who have gone before her into death.   As we laid her to rest, it was not hard to imagine all Aileen’s “beloved dead” on the “other side” cheering her on as she crossed the finish line. And we imagine Aileen now, safe from frailty, pain and suffering, striding out in her denim skirt, carrying on toward some new and wondrous adventure, just beyond the horizon.