Sister Paula Jane Tupa

It was a very sad day for us when we lost our beloved Sister Paula on June 9th of this year.  The good news is that she moved on to the promised land of Heaven and was reunited with all her relatives and friends that loved her.

 Funeral services were held at the Saint Joseph Chapel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 21, June, 2023. 

Sister Paula was born in New Prague, Minnesota on March 19, 1927 and lived on the family farm on Highway 23, 1 mile north of the Rice County line.

Sister's parents were Robert Tupa and Pauline Malecha Tupa, grandparents were Frank L. Malecha and Anastasia Malecha  and Joe and Elizabeth Tupa.  She was the second oldest in a family of five.   Robert, Norbert and Polly preceded her in moving to eternal life. Her remaining brother Loren lives in Garden Grove, California.  She has many nieces and nephews, and most of them live in California and Nevada. Many of her cousins still live in southern Minnesota.

 After graduating with a class of 10 from Holy Trinity School in Veseli, she joined the convent of the Teaching Sisters of Saint Francis at the age of 14. Sister remained in the Order for 79 years.

 After Sister Paula received her teaching degree from Alverno College, her first teaching assignment lasted 14 years at Saint William’s Parish School in Chicago. Later she taught in parish schools from New York to California. What is dyslexyia?  Until SPJ started test programs dealing with it, most of us had never heard of it. Even in the teaching field Sister had skeptics of the practice she developed to deal with it. The ability to read properly is a gift from heaven, which was confirmed by her many students, young, and old.

 LaMont Academy zeroed in on dealing with Dyslexia and later Escalade Academy also had an effective program in dealing with Autism. Both nonprofits were founded by Sister Paula.

 In 1971 Sister received her Masters degree from Northwestern University.  In 2012, Alverno College awarded her the prestigious induction to the Vanguard Society for creative education teaching skills.

 After her move to California, Sister was an instructor at Saddleback College and Loyola Marymount University.

 The following is a list of awards Sister received: Woman of Achievement award - California Federation of Women’s Clubs for two years in a row for the entire state of California; Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Achievement in teaching children with learning disabilities from the Learning Disabilities Association of California; Outstanding Educator of the Year from the Learning Disabilities Association of California.

 Even in her last years she tutored back in Milwaukee.

Her funeral service may be viewed by clicking on this link: https://video.ibm.com/recorded/132860166