RAPID CITY | Sister M. Gemma Schatz, OSB, 96, died Thursday, August 8, 2013, at St. Martin Monastery in Rapid City, on the 72nd anniversary of her profession as a Benedictine sister. She was born July 25, 1917, to Joseph and Katherine Schatz and named Margaret at her baptism. She grew up on the family farm near Pleasant Valley, and attended the local country school with four brothers and four sisters. She attended St. Martin's Academy in Sturgis and entered St. Martin's Convent in 1933, where she received the name Sister Mary Gemma. She made her perpetual profession as a Benedictine on August 8, 1941. Sister Gemma enrolled in St. John's McNamara School of Nursing in Rapid City in 1938 and received training in obstetrics and pediatrics at St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth, Minn. She passed the SD State Board of Nursing examination in 1941 and in 1942 was named supervisor of the maternity unit at St. John's Hospital. She held that position until 1968, when obstetrics care was moved from St. John's Hospital to Bennett-Clarkson Hospital in Rapid City. Sister Gemma worked in the maternity unit there until she retired in 1984, having spent 42 years in obstetrics nursing. Credited with having assisted at the birth of over 20,000 babies, Sister Gemma was known by many as "the best obstetrical nurse in South Dakota." She particularly enjoyed the challenge of caring for tiny premature infants, "to bring them to a stage where they could go home." In 1984 Sister Gemma joined two other sisters from St. Martin Monastery to establish a new community known as Epiphany Monastery in Columbia Falls, Mont. Although she found there her desired solitude, she continued to use her nursing skills to care for a number of terminally ill persons who wished to live their final days in the quiet of the monastery. She relished outdoor work and delighted in developing a small orchard and tending a garden. When Epiphany Monastery was closed in 2006, Sister Gemma returned to St. Martin Monastery where she performed various household tasks until 2012, when she required nursing assistance in the monastery healthcare unit. Sister Gemma is survived by a brother, Benjamin (Alice) Schatz, Des Plains, Ill.; sisters Tillie Kilby, Great Falls, Mont., Mary Knight, San Pedro, Calif.; nieces and nephews, and the Benedictine Sisters of St. Martin Monastery. Visitation will be at 5:30 p.m. followed by a vigil at 6:30 p.m. today at St. Martin Monastery Chapel in Rapid City. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Monday, August 12, at Terra Sancta in Rapid City (2101 City Springs Rd). Interment will be at St. Martin Monastery Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to your favorite charity, Terra Sancta or St. Martin Monastery.