Ohio Companions live Precious Blood spirituality
Companions Neil and Pat Diller
Our Companion group began shortly after the C.PP.S. community began to welcome lay people to become Companions and to share their Precious Blood spirituality. One of our members, Jeanette Wellman, became a Companion in 1994, along with her husband, Elmer, who is now deceased. We have met regularly at St. Charles Center and have been fortunate to have many of the retired community members who live at St. Charles join us at our gatherings. We have had ups and downs as we have struggled with what is Precious Blood spirituality and how do we live it? We often remind ourselves that we are called to “be” Precious Blood people before we concern ourselves with “doing” anything. We support one another in our journeys.
Each individual has a story, but I would like to share the story of one specific person. Linda Thieman, who just turned 80, has been a Companion for over 25 years. By her example, Linda has taught us many ways to live Precious Blood spirituality. Over three years ago, she was diagnosed with a condition called myasthenia gravis (MS), and while this has slowed her down, she continues to volunteer, health permitting, at many places and organizations. This past spring, her local community of St. Henry honored her by naming her grand marshal of their annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. They wrote the following about her:
When we are considering great people in our community to ask to be grand marshal for our parade, any NUMBER of reasons come to mind. How about some of these numbers?
35 years as an EMT/paramedic with
St. Henry EMS30 years as a bus driver
32 years as a youth coordinator with
the church33 years as a CCD teacher
104 mission trips to Haiti
9 groups of people to World Youth Day
all over the world3 trips to Tanzania with Father
Benedict, C.PP.S.Over 2,000 youth and adults accompanied her on these trips
Thousands and thousands of lives have been touched through her kindness, drive, generosity, and caring. Through fundraising efforts she’s coordinated for the St. Henry mission group at the county fair, Eldora Speedway, Dayton Dragons, and Cincinnati Reds baseball games, she’s tried to teach us all to put service before self by leading by example. She has touched many lives of the people in our community, and these are some of the reasons why we’d like to honor Mrs. Linda Thieman as our 2025 St. Patrick’s Day Parade grand marshal.
Linda is an exceptional individual with much more energy and drive than most of us have. We are proud to have her as part of our Companion group. In her ministry to Haiti, she has worked closely with Brother Nick Renner, C.PP.S., and other community members who live at St. Charles. At one time she led a group of young Companions — teenagers who were part of her youth group.
In recent years, we have lost a number of our group to age-related issues and are now trying to rebuild, inviting some new members. Our current cultural issues have helped us to realize how much the world needs Precious Blood spirituality and appreciate how very blessed we are to be part of the Precious Blood community of people.