Humility, humor helps winner through tragedy

From The Superior Catholic Herald...
 

“Everyone has their history,” Michele Armbrust of Medford said. While elements of her life story are more extraordinary than most, the 2022 Diocese of Superior’s CCW Pax Christi Award winner acknowledges the role that faith and a strong support system have played.

Starting with the “big influence” that Armbrust’s grandmother had in her upbringing, the winner’s resilience and experience of faith in community was rooted deep. The family lived near their Catholic church and school and Armbrust remembers many hours spent with the nuns. These female influences filled in gaps; her mother, who had lived through an abusive first marriage and the loss of a child and had serious mental health challenges, did her best but needed help.

She had a workaholic father, so her mother took care of things at home and grandma “was a stable presence.” She remembers grandma taking her to Mass, and stopping for hot chicken sandwiches afterward. It was grandma who also took the children to St. Camillus Hospital in Milwaukee to have dinner with their father during his work break. It was there that Armbrust was introduced to and spent time with various priests.

“The Lord has put people in my life who have helped me along the way,” she acknowledged, saying how blessed she has felt without negating the challenges she has faced.

Read the rest of this news story on The Superior Catholic Herald (official publication of the Diocese of Superior) website here...