Sister Claudellen Pentecost, CHM

Sister Claudellen Pentecost, CHM, 91, died on August 12, 2023, at the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice

House in Bettendorf, IA.  Services will be at Humility of Mary Center, 820 W Central Park Ave.,

Davenport, IA: Wednesday, August 16, 2023, 4 p.m., Rosary and Visitation and 7 p.m., Vigil

Service; Thursday, August 17, 11 a.m., Mass of Christian Burial followed by cremation.

Inurnment will be later in Lewistown, MT.

Lois A. Pentecost was born February 13, 1932, in Lewistown, Montana, to Claude and Ida Ellen

(Crowley) Pentecost. As the youngest child, she appreciated her siblings, Jack, Dorothy,

Genevieve, Tom, Marjorie, Tim, Rita, Chuck, Jim, and Bette. She entered the Congregation of

the Humility of Mary in 1954 and professed vows in 1957 as Sister Mary Claudellen.

Sister studied education both at Ottumwa Heights College in Ottumwa, IA, and at Marycrest

College in Davenport, where she earned her BA in Elementary Education.

Sister Claudellen began teaching in 1957 at St. Anthony Elementary School in Des Moines.

Then she served one year, 1960-61, at St. Mary’s in Centerville, IA, before leaving Iowa,

spending over 20 years at different schools in Montana, including Sacred Heart School in

Glendive, St. Joseph, St. Mary, and St. Gerard in Great Falls, and St. Leo in Lewistown where

she also served as principal. She taught one year at St. Austin in Minneapolis. Other positions

included school bus driving and serving as supervisor of the wood shop and sewing areas at the

Easter Seal Adult Center in Great Falls. In 1983, she returned to Iowa and served as Center

Coordinator at the Humility of Mary Center in Davenport until 1987. She returned once more to

Great Falls to work as a bus driver and then for Columbus Hospital—Benefis West as a central

services technician. In 2015, she retired at the Humility of Mary Center where she served in the

ministry of prayer and witness.

A self-described tomboy, Sister is remembered for her love of sports (particularly softball and

boxing), playing the guitar, hunting, fireworks, and making jelly and wine from chokecherries

she gathered by the bushel. In Davenport, she was part of a group that would work through the

night on Christmas Eve, decorating the Center to exacting and delightful standards. Her

enthusiasm and laughter will be dearly missed by all who knew her.

She is preceded in death by her parents and all ten of her siblings, but is survived by many

cousins, nieces, nephews and members of her religious community.

Memorials may be made to the Congregation of the Humility of Mary.

Online remembrances may be expressed at www.hmdfuneralhome.com.