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Sister Patricia Ann was born in Chicago on February 2, 1933, to Joseph Koschalke and Gertrude Deering. She was baptized at Saint Josaphat Church, the first mission of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in America. After graduating from Alvernia High School, she entered the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth on January 5, 1952, became a novice on June 21, and received the name Sister Mary Ambrose. She professed her perpetual vows on August 6, 1960, in Des Plaines, IL, adding the mystery “the Holy Cross” to her name.
Sister served as a teacher at St. Andrew the Apostle School in Calumet City for eight years, and later taught at Saint Michael High School and Holy Family Academy. Following these years, her ministerial life was centered on health care. In 1967, she was appointed the Comptroller at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago. In 1978, she became Administrator of Holy Family Hospital. Compelled by the changing face of health care, Sister was required to find creative ways to adapt.
She was responsible for integrating Holy Family Hospital and Holy Family Health Center into Holy Family Health System. Many new initiatives evolved under her guidance: the New Beginnings services for low-income pregnant women, Keys to Recovery program, Holy Family Health Center, and Ballard Nursing Home, a Day Care Center, an Outpatient Surgical Center, and a Women’s Center. Following the co-sponsorship of Resurrection Health Care, her commitment to the mission of Catholic health care continued.
She loved her Nazareth community, and, while fulfilling these responsibilities, she simultaneously served in several leadership roles. She drew her strength for this prodigious life of service from a deep life of prayer. She could be found in the chapel early each morning, long before her day as CEO began, in quiet prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, walking with trust beside the One who said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”
She enjoyed crocheting, traveling, gardening, cooking, and especially baking; – simple tasks which balanced the weighty demands of her ministry. In her later years, she brought her characteristic dedication and energy to the food-service ministry at the Provincialate and CSFN Creations, before embracing a quiet ministry of prayer and presence at Nazarethville Place in Des Plaines, IL, in 2025.
Sister Patricia Ann remained peaceful as her health steadily declined, and she died quietly on September 3, 2026, at Nazarethville. Providentially, on September 14, when the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, many gathered to honor her memory, to give thanks for her faithful witness, and to bid her farewell. She was laid to rest at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, IL. May she rest in peace.
