Idaho County Free Press Grangeville, Idaho County, Idaho Sister Mary Aquinas (Irene Margaret) Schaecher, 91 Sister Mary Aquinas (Irene Margaret) Schaecher, 91, died peacefully at the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood on Nov. 25, 2004. She was born in Cottonwood on June 25, 1913, the youngest child of Theodore and Catherine Beller Schaecher. She entered the Monastery of St. Gertrude where she made her monastic profession as a Benedictine Sister on Aug. 27, 1931. A passionate life-long learner herself, Sister Aquinas relished teaching and was a favorite among many students. She taught at Guardian Angel School in Colton, Wash., and in Idaho brought her creative educational talents to St. Gertrude's Academy and St. Joseph's School in Cottonwood, St. Maries Academy in St. Maries, St. Paul's School in Nampa, St. Anthony's School in Nezperce, the Keuterville and Greencreek schools, and St. Mary's School in Boise. In the early 1970s she assisted the Benedictine Sisters in Covington, La., as they amalgamated with the Benedictine community in Fort Smith, Ariz. She taught for a year in Bogota, Colombia, with Benedictine Sisters from St. Gertrude's and several other U.S. communities who served at Collegio San Carlos which the Benedictine monks from Richardton, N.D., still operate there. For more than 15 years she poured out her compassion with the migrant workers in Caldwell, the poor in Pocatello, the homeless in Seattle, an elderly friend in St. Maries, and members of the Nezperce Tribe in Lapwai. Among her varied careers she also served at the monastery as Director of Novices and Sisters in Temporary Profession and as Director of Maintenance. She loved to care for the flower gardens and the monastery cats.