First Mother Superior leaves lasting impression at Saint Joseph Retreat & Conference Center

In 1915 the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton were the first Sisters of the Fort Wayne Diocese to open their convent to lay women for a retreat for “spiritual accounting away from the turmoil of the noisy city.” The Sisters welcomed retreatants throughout their history in Tipton.

Founder Mother Gertrude Moffitt said, “They are out for a few days air of the country...in a word, they are out to inhale the fresh breath of the Holy Spirit for their souls.”

Mother Gertrude Moffitt
Born December 4, 1852 in Piqua, Ohio, Mary Margaret Moffitt was of Irish and French descent. At 24 she entered the order of St. Joseph in the East and Sister Gertrude Moffitt was perpetually professed on March 20, 1882.

It was well-known that Sister Gertrude intended to go West, and she was given that opportunity when Father F. G. Lentz, the pastor of St. John’s in Tipton, requested Sisters of St. Joseph to establish a parochial school. Sister Gertrude, along with Sister Josephine (Mary Hynes) and Sheridan native Sister Theresa Thistlewait, arrived in Tipton on March 15, 1888 traveling by rail from Watertown, NY.

The sisters lived with a parishioner for two weeks until their convent, a little cottage on North Oak Street, was complete. The first year of the Sisters’ life in Tipton was filled with labor and anxieties—they taught school, made linens for the altar, trained the choir, visited the sick and dying--but in all things gave thanks.

Under Mother Gertrude’s leadership, the Sisters of St. Joseph, with the help of Fr. Anthony Kroeger, purchased a 200-acre farm where they built the St. Joseph Academy. The boarding and day student Academy opened in September 1904. The St. Joseph Convent was built adjacent to the Academy in 1910.

In the early years, teaching and nursing were the two ministries of the community. They served the poor and needy in their first hospital, Good Samaritan in Kokomo, in addition to educating girls at the Academy.

Mother Gertrude led the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton for 28 years with a ‘genial nature, hearty infectious laugh, unlimited hard work and deep religious spirit.’

“Now, little dear, do it the best you can because it is for the Lord.”

Her final achievements have had a lasting impact on the Saint Joseph Retreat & Conference Center. Early in 1915, the Sisters of St. Joseph announced, ‘the Retreat as a Spiritual Outing.’ Noting that young ladies are not required to make a strict retreat but be out for a few days ‘air of the country.’ The advertisement in the “Indiana Catholic and Record” marks the outing as a new departure for Catholic lay women of the state. The Sisters went on to have annual retreats for lay Catholics as well as establishing a retreat center here in the 1980s. Then, in August 1915, Mother Gertrude selected the grassy knoll at the southeast corner of what was then the vineyard for a cemetery.

She lived to welcome the first group of retreatants in August of 1915 before passing on April 28, 1916 and becoming the first grave in the new cemetery.