Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, BVM, the joyful soul who became the face of Loyola Chicago’s 2018 Final Four run and a spiritual mother to generations of Ramblers, has died at 106. Loyola announced her passing on the night of Thursday, October 9, 2025, after she recently stepped back from official duties because of health concerns.
Long before she was a national icon in maroon and gold, Sister Jean was a teacher, counselor, and tireless encourager. Born in 1919 and a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary since 1937, she spent decades forming minds and hearts, then joined Loyola through Mundelein College and, in 1994, became the men’s basketball team chaplain.
In 2018 the country met the woman we already loved. Cameras found her courtside, but what people saw was not celebrity, it was vocation: a consecrated sister who cheered, prayed, and pointed students toward excellence. The Ramblers’ Cinderella story brought her into living rooms everywhere, yet she never stopped being what she had always been, a chaplain who called young people to live with purpose.
That calling was front and center when she joined John Morales on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air in 2023. Sister Jean was then celebrating the release of her memoir, Wake Up with Purpose! What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years, and she shared the simple, sturdy habits that shaped her life. Make room for quiet each day, she told our listeners, because without silence you cannot think or pray. Set goals, because direction gives life structure. Order your values, because character depends on what you love. And even in a casual age, present yourself with dignity, because how we carry ourselves reflects the truth that we are children of God. Those were not slogans for a book tour. They were the steady rhythms of a disciple who had practiced them for a century.
During that conversation she laughed easily as she remembered the magic of March, recalling the clutch shots and close wins that lifted Loyola into history. But she always steered the spotlight away from herself and back to the students, the coaches, and the community that made the journey possible. That was Sister Jean’s gift, to make everyone around her feel seen, encouraged, and capable of more.
Even this past month, as she officially retired, the Loyola family reaffirmed that her presence would remain a living thread in campus life. Today we entrust her to the Lord she served so faithfully, grateful for a century of witness and the joyful clarity she brought to every arena, classroom, and studio she entered. May perpetual light shine upon her, and may we honor her memory by waking up with purpose, setting goals, and living our values with courage.