Margaret Botch, SP

(Sister Eva Marie)

Sister Margaret Botch was born in Great Falls, Mont., and lived in Belt and several other Montana towns where she got to know the Sisters of Providence through religious vacation school classes.

After two years of high school in Iraq, where her father was in government service, she graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in Missoula, Mont., and entered the religious community in 1956.

One of the early enrollees in the College of Sister Formation, she taught high school English in Great Falls and in Walla Walla, Wash., before becoming the first woman campus minister at Gonzaga University in Spokane in 1972. She assisted parishes in the 1970s and lived for 14 years in a local community focused on contemplative prayer and a simple lifestyle.

Sister Margaret has been a trailblazer in the religious community, co-chairing the first open chapter with her older sibling, Sister Bernadette Botch, in 1976; serving on the first formation team, directing the revitalized novitiate, and serving two terms as councilor for ministry and religious development.

She was on the first Leadership Team of Mother Joseph Province, 2000-04, and became provincial/leadership team coordinator, 2005-09. Today, she lives in Walla Walla, supporting the homebound sick, elderly and dying, visiting and praying with them and bringing them Holy Communion.

 

Sister Margaret has been a trailblazer in the religious community, co-chairing the first open chapter in 1976; serving on the first formation team, directing the revitalized novitiate, and serving two terms as councilor for ministry and religious development..