Madeline DeFrees, poet and long-serving Catholic nun, passed away on November 11, 2015. She was 95. She authored eight books of poetry, including the Lenore Marshall Prize–winning Blue Dusk: New and Selected Poems 1951–2001 that was published by Copper Canyon Press. The same book was awarded the Washington State Book Award in 2002, which she also received for her follow-up, Spectral Waves.

DeFrees was also honored with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.

She spent 38 years as a nun with the Catholic Congregation of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, but left in 1973. Her obituary in the Seattle Times reports that her decision to leave the convent was due to religious life and poetry both demanding absolute commitment. During her time as a nun, she wrote two memoirs about life in the convent, The Springs of Silence, published in 1953, and Later Thoughts from the Springs of Silence in 1962.

Interviewed by Image, she was asked why she thought poetry was still vital. She responded, “First of all, I think it gets at things that more direct language can’t. It expands. It’s like something you put in water and then it just expands. We hear so much language that’s 95 percent waste—and so something that is more memorable is significant.”

A celebration of Madeline’s life will be held Dec. 4, 3:00, at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, 2310 SE 148^th, Portland, OR. A Seattle celebration will be announced soon on madelinedefrees.com.

Photo credit: Rosanne Olson