Sister Jean Thuerauf

SISTER JEAN THUERAUF

Solon

Sister Jean Thuerauf, 85, of Minneapolis, formerly of Solon, died peacefully Friday, June 10, 2016, at Catholic Elder Care, Minneapolis. Celebration of life will be 11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 18, at Brosh Chapel and The Avacentre in Solon. Burial will follow in St. Mary's Cemetery. Visitation will be from 10:30 a.m. to service time Saturday at Brosh Chapel.

Survivors include her sister, Mary Ann (late Wesley) Hotka of River Falls, Wis.; brothers, David (Ann) Thuerauf of Mount Vernon and Paul (Theresa) Thuerauf of Wilcox, Ariz.; and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Helen (Hudachek) Thuerauf; brother, Bernard (Evelyn) Thuerauf of Joplin, Mo., and sister, Patricia (Marvin) Spychaj, of Alexandria, Va.

Sister Jean was born Dorothy Jean Thuerauf on Sept. 5, 1930, on a farm near Solon, Iowa. She graduated from Solon High School and entered the convent of the Sisters of Mercy in Cedar Rapids, taking the name Sister Mary John. She graduated from Mount Mercy College, Cedar Rapids, in 1950. She taught elementary school at St. Joseph's in Marion, St. Matthews in Cedar Rapids and Sacred Heart in Oelwein before moving to Minneapolis in the early 1970s.

She worked as a teacher and adult religious educator at Our Lady of Grace Church in Edina. On weekends, she did storytelling and tutoring with children of north Minneapolis. Sister Jean could be seen walking the streets with her stuffed monkey, Jocko. The children knew that if Jocko was around, then story time was soon to follow.

Her work was interrupted in 1973 when a virus infected her brain and left her near death for more than two years; it also left her temporarily blind. After surgery, she eventually recovered. Then, in 1976, she said that she was "told by the Lord" to go and live in north Minneapolis, but to leave her purse and driver's license behind.

In 1985, she formally founded the Mercy Missionaries. Sister Jean knew that the streets offered young people a life of crime, violence and gang activity so she decided to offer the teens of north Minneapolis something different. She saw the need to engage the neighborhood's young people in educational and empowering activities, so she started inviting the community's children and teenagers into her kitchen for help with schoolwork, to hear stories of God's love and to learn to bake cookies. They would then sell those cookies on the sidewalk using a small cookie cart. It didn't take long for there to be more bakers than there was room in her tiny kitchen! In 1987, Sister Jean's vision for a safe, secure, creative and engaging space for north Minneapolis' youth was formalized and became the Cookie Cart. The first Cookie Cart was on Emerson Avenue, the next one was around the corner on Broadway Avenue, with a new one which opened in St. Paul this year. Today, the Cookie Cart provides youth employment training through experiential learning. Sister Jean has touched the lives of approximately 10,000 teens through the Cookie Cart.

Sister Jean also authored two books: Echoes from the City, published in 1977, and Deprived of Dignity, published in 1996.

Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.broshchapel.com.