Sister Germaine’s paternal grandparents left Bavaria, Germany, in 1884 when her father was one year old. They bought land and built a home on a farm 2 miles south of Payne, Ohio. It was on this family homestead that Frances Hedwig Wannemacher was born to Alphonse J. and Eva G. Pepiot Wannemacher on December 20, 1912. Her mother was born at Russia, OH, and her family later moved to Latty, near Payne, where she was in the hat designing business.

Frances was fifth of the fifteen children of Alphons and Eva. During her childhood and early
teens, she enjoyed life on the family farm. There were chickens to feed, oats to shock, corn to
husk, and burning corn stalks to watch in the cool, evening breeze. Threshing time was
especially exciting when she helped to carry fresh lemonade to the men in the field. Sledding
and riding the mudboat were great fun in the winter time.

Her parents were devout Catholics and active at the local parish. Germaine remembered walking to town with her sister, Bertha, for Saturday Confessions and tarrying on the way, often stopping to see their grandma who lived in town.

Sundays were special days at the Wannemacher farm. Family friends and school friends
gathered there after Mass to play baseball, volley ball, or croquet and to enjoy the plentiful food layout prepared by her mother. In the evenings the young folks took over the kitchen where they popped corn, made popcorn balls and candy and played games, while the older folks enjoyed cards in the living room.

Frances attended a country school, “Swamp College School,” for her first grade and then
transferred to St. John Catholic School in Payne when it opened in 1920. She attended the
public high school at Payne. There she enjoyed sports and played on the girls’ basketball team.

When she was seventeen, Francis announced her intention to enter the convent. She spoke with her pastor about being a missionary sister at Huntington, Indiana. Fr. Gosser checked with the bishop who discouraged her going to Victory Noll, saying he needed Sisters in the diocese and, as a Tiffin Franciscan, she would find plenty of missionary work.

She entered the Sisters of St. Francis, Tiffin, on August 28, 1929, and stayed 78 years!. She
received the habit on February 27, 1930, at which time she became our Sister Mary Germaine. She made her profession of vows August 30, 1932. As a Sister of St. Francis, she had an interesting and varied life. She received her bachelor of science from Mary Manse College in Toledo and her master’s in administration and education from the Catholic University of America.

Sister Germaine served as elementary teacher or teacher/principal at Fort Jennings, Edgerton,
Reed, Blakeslee, Landeck, Carey, Peru, Bucyrus, and New Washington; as secondary teacher at Central Catholic High School, Toledo; as houseparent at St. Anthony Villa, Toledo; as staff member at St. Anthony Pilgrim House, Carey and St. Joseph Renewal Center, Tiffin; as secretary, Holy Spirit Parish, Progreso, Texas; and housekeeper and religion teacher, S. John’s School, Payne.

Sister Germaine had a big heart for the elderly and the poor and even during her teaching years
found time to minister to the needy. During her years at Toledo Central Catholic, she ministered at the Brain Damaged Children’s Home on Franklin Avenue. Wherever there was a need, there was Sister Germaine volunteering. During her “retirement” years, she served as hospitality coordinator and minister of service at the Motherhouse and worked many hours as a volunteer at St. Francis Spirituality Center.

Sister Germaine died peacefully in the Lord on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at St. Francis Home where she had resided for the past year.

She is survived by her sister, Mary Litzenberg, Payne, and two brothers, Richard and Robert,
both of Payne. Preceding her in death were her parents, six brothers: Bernard, Herman, Charles, Alphonse, John, and Louis, and five sisters: Eva, Teresa Trabel, Helen McBane, Bertha Wilson, and Sharon Wannemacher.

At age 92, she wrote: I still have the energy to learn, to enjoy, to serve. Many thanks to you,
God, and to all.”