Mother Andrea (Spikula)

Mother Andrea, née Ellen Nadia Spikula. (b. May 19, 1917, in Chicago; d. Sept. 3, 1988, in Stamford, CT).  She sang in the church choir at St. Nicholas Parish, where she also played the organ and conducted the women’s choir. She went on to earn a Master’s degree in music from the Chicago Conservatory. Her thesis was on Byzantine Slavic liturgical music. In the 1940s, she joined the convent of the Missionary Sisters of the Mother of God, in Stamford, CT.  At the Mother of God Academy, she taught music, religion, Ukrainian, English, Latin, mathematics, history, typewriting, piano, organ, a cappella singing, and theater.

1939: Earned a degree in education from Chicago Normal College.

1940s: Entered the convent of the Missionary Sisters of the Mother of God (Stamford, CT).