At 98-years-old, Miss Philomena Falls says she’s had an enjoyable, interesting life and that she has been “very fortunate.” An elementary school teacher for over 40 years she taught in the United States, Germany and Japan before retiring as a principal.

Her connection to Glenmary began over 50 years ago when she says a Glenmary missioner spoke at her home parish of St. Denis in Lexington, Mich. At some point in her early years, she remembers taking a train trip through the South and seeing the really poor areas. When she heard where Glenmary worked and how they brought a Catholic presence to these areas, she began supporting the ministry both financially and with her prayers.

She was no stranger to what it was like to be a part of a mission church. She remembers going to Mass only once a month on a Saturday because that’s when the priest was scheduled to visit St. Denis. It wasn’t until 1950 that St. Denis lost its mission status because of its growth. Since that time, the parish community has continued to grow.

A member of the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, Miss Falls did clerical work throughout the war, an experience she says she wouldn’t take $1 million for. “I learned the Army way of doing things and that helped me tremendously when I traveled to Germany in 1946 to help open a school on an Army base,” she says. She was one of 125 people who set up the school for children of Army personnel stationed there.

She stayed in Germany for three years and then returned to the United States for five years before heading off to Japan to work with a priest who developed a type of Boys Town for Japanese children.

Living in Japan, she remembers, was a wonderful experience even though she lived in an area that was very rural and the local people lived as they had 100 years earlier.

“Through my travel I gained a view of the world as well as an appreciation of how people live and how, in many cases, they have to live,” she says.

That’s something she has never forgotten. As a result, she has tried throughout her life to always think about other people and to find ways to help them.

One way she helps is through charitable giving. She has remembered Glenmary in her will and has also established a revocable trust with Glenmary. And, she makes periodic donations to Glenmary throughout the year.

Through donating, the donor gets to “do something good for someone,” she says, and the organization benefits too. “The money doesn’t amount to anything if it isn’t working!”

“I really like Glenmary’s ministry,” she says. “It’s like watching love in action.” She is also very interested in the Glenmary Group Volunteer Program at the Glenmary Farm because it gives young people an opportunity to serve others.

In that same light, she has established an endowment at St. Denis for young people who need financial assistance to pursue education and training careers that involve serving others.

“I like people,” she says, and the folks she has met through Glenmary are no exception, especially people like Susan Lambert, Glenmary’s planned giving officer. “We met over the phone,” Miss Falls remembers. “And recently we were able to meet in person, which was really wonderful. She takes Glenmary’s mission everywhere she goes. It’s so good to put a face with an organization.”

“I continue pushing on,” Miss Falls says. “God has been so good to me and I’m happy to be able to share with others what God has made possible in my life.”

This article originally appeared in the Autumn 2007 Planning Ahead Newsletter

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