Trautman, Leona Marie

• Sister Leona Trautman, SOS

Born 20 April 1913 in Orillia, daughter of Joseph Trautman and Ethel Mary Hundt; entered 18 February 1933; first vows 15 August 1934; final vows 15 August 1940; died 12 October 2006.

The eldest of eight children, Leona was born in Orillia. During the First World War, the family moved to Flint, Michigan, in the early 1920s, the family returned to the Trautman family farm near Mildmay in southwestern Ontario. Leona graduated from separate school in Ambleside.

Entering at the age of 19, she professed first vows on August 15, 1934 in the Motherhouse chapel. Posted to the women's residence in Winnipeg (1935-1937), Sister Trautman worked with young women, who had come to the city looking for work. To upgrade her education, Sister Trautman was transferred to Regina (1937-1938), where Sister Catherine Donnelly taught high school courses to her and Sister Irene Faye. To complete the final high school year, both young sisters accompanied Sister Donnelly to Marquis, Saskatchewan (1938-1939) and joined her high school classes. After completing high school, she received an appointment to the Vancouver residence (1939-1940), where she professed final vows on August 15, 1939 in the chapel. To continue her education, Sister Trautman attended Winnipeg Normal School (1940-1941) to earn a teaching certificate. In a 30-year teaching career, she was assigned to small, often isolated rural communities: Camp Morton, Manitoba (1941-1948); Previous Blood school, Toronto-Wexford (1948-1949); Indian Day School, Christian Island, Ontario (1951-1954 and 1963-1967); Loyola Continuation School, Sinnett, Saskatchewan (1954-1961); St. Michael's high school, Rycroft, Alberta (1961-1962) and Bishop Belleau school, Moosonee, Ontario (1972-1979).

Sister Trautman returned to the women's residence in Toronto (1949-1950) and in Ottawa (1950-1951) and was posted catechetical house in Edmonton (1962-1963). In 1968, Sister Trautman volunteered and was selected for the community's Brazil mission. In a year-long preparation, she attended a six-week course at the Coady Institute, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, and extensive language training in Portuguese at the Latin American Institute in St. Mary’s, Ontario. In June 1969, Sister Trautman and Sister Lydia Tyszko departed on a two-year mission in Casa Nova in northeastern Brazil. Applying her teaching and catechetical experience and craft skills, Sister Trautman worked among the women, teaching literacy and sewing as a craft industry, and forming the catechetical groups.

After returning from Brazil, Sister Trautman attended the University of Winnipeg (1971-1972), she resumed teaching in the northern Ontario community of Moosonee, where she also helped the mothers form the Catholic Ladies’ Club, which later evolved into a subdivision of the Catholic Women's League. An avid gardener, Sister Trautman was president of the James Bay Horticultural Society in Moosonee. A year before going to the Regina catechetical house (1980-1988), she attended Newman Theological College in Edmonton and went on a college-sponsored 21-day tour of Europe and the Middle East. In Regina, she combined the duties of the religious correspondence lessons, now the Home Program, for more than 100 students, writing letters to parents and students, with assisting the Laotian immigrants and the sisters' vocation program.

Following Regina, her last mission, she lived in Kitchener (1988-1989) on an informal sabbatical and moved to the Motherhouse (1989-1999), arranging and identifying the 10,000 photographs in the newly-established archival collection.When the Motherhouse underwent extensive renovations, Sister Trautman joined the retired sisters at Scarborough Court (1999-2005), where she assisted as a tutor at adjacent St. Boniface school and at St. Boniface church in the catechetical program. Throughout this time, she continued to paint, mostly in oils, and tended the gardens of Scarborough Court and LaSalle Manor, where the retired sisters moved in 2005. On October 12, 2006, she slipped outdoors en route to the gardens, hitting her head and died hours later in Sunnybrook Hospital. The wake service and Mass of Christian Burial were held at LaSalle Manor. Her body was buried in the community's plot at Mount Hope cemetery, Toronto.

Created by F Rousselle June 25, 2025.
Revised by F Rousselle June 27, 2025.

Biographical sketch adapted for brevity from complete biography written by SOS congregational archivist MC Havey.