Sun streamed through the windows of Madonna Della Strada Chapel on the Lake Shore Campus of Loyola University Chicago the morning of Oct. 16 as family, friends, staff and students gathered for a funeral Mass to celebrate the life of BVM Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt.

Sister Jean, a legend in the Loyola University and wider Chicago communities, died Oct. 9 at 106.

Students and staff stood in line for hours to attend the Mass, which followed a wake service the night before. More people joined the Mass in overflow space in the university’s Damen Center and online.

The diminutive nun with her signature Nike tennis shoes with “Sister Jean” stitched on the back became a national celebrity in 2018, when the Loyola Ramblers men’s basketball team made a run to the NCAA Final Four.

But before and after she gained wide fame, Sister Jean had a heart for her Loyola students, remembering their names and keeping tabs on what was going on in their lives.

Standing near a large photo of Sister Jean, BVM Sister Mary Ann Zollman eulogized her friend.

Sister Jean knew at a young age that she wanted to become a religious sister and teach children, Sister Mary Ann said.

“With that characteristic twinkle in her eye, she sums it up, ‘Feeling connected to my students was like oxygen to me. When you love what you do, it never really feels like work,’” she said.

In 1961, when her community sent her to Mundelein College, she wondered “whatever will I do there,” Sister Mary Ann said. The congregation laughed at this comment, since Sister Jean’s indefatigable spirit was widely known.

“At Mundelein, Jean taught in the education department, supervised student teachers, served as assistant and acting dean, director of the summer session, the weekend college, student employment and the Coffey Hall residence,” she said.

That was also a time of great turmoil in the country and change in the church, with events such as the Vietnam War, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Second Vatican Council.

“In the process, Jean revealed her own heart’s desire for racial and gender equity, peace without war and an inclusive church,” Sister Mary Ann said.

Sister Jean stayed at the college as it merged into Loyola University, and in 1994 became chaplain of the Ramblers men’s basketball team.

“Jean and the Ramblers were made for each other, and eventually, the whole world would know it,” she said. “Yet, the electricity between Jean and the Ramblers was about more than a stellar season. It was about the perennial experience of exceptional human community.”

As the team’s chaplain, Sister Jean carried her love of students with her and ministered to them during tough times on and off of the court. That carried over to the coaches, staff and fans.

“As woman of wisdom, prayer and compassion, she has been advisor and confidant, the heartbeat of God’s friendship at the heart of Loyola,” Sister Mary Ann said. “And it is for this that she wants to be remembered.”

In the homily, former Loyola President Jesuit Father Michael Garanzini said Sister Jean spent her days doing hundreds of acts of kindness.

“I will always remember Sister Jean however, as a consummate gossipist. I mean ‘gossip’ in the nicest sense of the term,” he said, evoking laughter from the congregation. “Those who were close to her knew she knew more than anyone else on campus, then both campuses, then later on, on all three Loyola Chicagoland campuses.”

She would visit the third campus, Loyola University Medical Center, Garanzini said, to receive Botox shots to strengthen her ankles.

“It’s true,” Garanzini said. “She once told me, ‘I have the most beautiful ankles of any centenarian you will ever meet.’”

On their regular drives from the main campus to the Water Tower campus, Sister Jean would fill him in on what was going on in people’s lives on campus and how he should address minor or major concerns, he said.

“So the gossip had a purpose, making this community a better place for people,” he said. “She was never tough on people. She was always kind, even if upset by someone.”

Sister Jean wanted the best for everyone, which she felt came from a life steeped in purpose, Garanzini said.

“No one better exemplified what a Christian, Ignatian educator seeks to do each day, matching the talents of this unique person with their deepest desires in order to tackle one of the world’s great needs,” he said.

Born in San Francisco on Aug. 21, 1919, Dolores Bertha Schmidt entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1937 as a postulant and was formally received as a novice a year later. She made her final vows in 1945, and was sent back to teach in Catholic elementary schools in California, where she coached girls’ basketball, among other sports.

She arrived in Chicago in 1961 to teach education at Mundelein College and over the next three decades held a variety of faculty and administrative positions. When Mundelein became affiliated with the adjoining Loyola University Chicago in 1991, she became an associate dean and academic adviser.

Three years later, when she was considering stepping back from her duties, the university asked her to work with the men’s and women’s basketball teams as an academic adviser. Two years later, she became the chaplain of the men’s basketball team.

By the time the Ramblers made the Final Four championship in 2018, Sister Jean was already a local legend and had been inducted into Loyola University’s sports Hall of Fame the year before.

In 2022, Sister Jean published her bestselling memoir, “Wake Up With Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years,” written with journalist Seth Davis.

The Ramblers men’s basketball team will wear a patch of Sister Jean this upcoming season.