A fond farewell to Ogden's good sisters

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This "Sister Act" will be tough to follow.

The Sisters of St. Benedict are leaving the Ogden area after nearly seven decades of spirited service.

The five remaining nuns — Luke Hoschette, Danile Knight, Stephanie Mongeon, Mary Zenzen and Jean Gibson — are returning to their home monastery in Minnesota.

Ogden Regional Medical Center hosted a farewell open house this week, so doctors, nurses, employees, volunteers and community members could wish the sisters well in their next venture.

"We leave with no regrets," Mongeon said in a news release. "We leave our peace and gratitude with the people of this community."

Through the years, 120 Benedictine nuns have served in and around Ogden.

It all began in 1944, when three Benedictine sisters hopped off a train at Ogden's Union Station to oversee construction of St. Benedict's Hospital, high on the city's east bench. That facility opened in September 1946 and functioned until 1977, when a larger replacement facility was built in nearby Washington Terrace; it has since expanded into what is now Ogden Regional Medical Center.

The nuns' good works will endure even after they depart. Their St. Benedict's Foundation will distribute the charity's remaining $4 million in $1 million increments over the next four years. A total of 18 northern Utah nonprofits benefit from those dollars, aimed primarily at helping women, children and families in crisis.