Sister Patrice Halligan's Story & Gallery
Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Patrice Halligan was born in Moorland, Iowa in 1990. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Notre Dame University in Notre Dame, Indiana, and her Master of Arts from the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, Iowa. Her primary occupation was teaching and she served as an elementary, secondary and college teacher for 43 years in schools in Iowa and Wisconsin. Twenty of those 43 years were spent at Viterbo College as an art instructor. As an artist, she primarily painted watercolor landscapes.
In the 2010 issue of “Strides” Sister Carlene Unser remembers Sister Patrice as her art teacher, “I was inspired by the way Patrice taught art history. History was not a favorite subject of mine, however Patrice brought it alive. She taught as if she were standing in France, inside the Cathedral of Chartres or Notre Dame or standing in the Parthenon in Greece. She knew every nook and pointed out things the average student wouldn’t notice. I wanted to be able to teach that way. I never gave it a thought then that I would teach at Viterbo someday. So when Grace McDonald asked me to consider teaching at Viterbo and I finally gave my consent, I asked to travel abroad so I too could experience, firsthand, some of the historical places I would be teaching about. I hope I did it as well as Patrice.” Sister Patrice’s passion for teaching and love of art lived on in her students and fellow sisters. Sister Patrice Halligan retired to Villa St. Joseph in 1969 and passed away in 1990 at 89.
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