S. Nivard Neft (1922-2011) Science Teacher, College Faculty, Med Tech
Sister Nevard (Mary Ann) Neft was born on April 1, 1922, in Shooks, MN to Joseph and Opal (Young). Mary Ann Neft, the fourth of 11 children, came to St. Benedict's Academy for her final years of high school. She wanted to come to St. Benedict at age 16, but her parents wouldn’t let her. When she came at 18, she had never even visited the place. She entered the community in 1940 and said she was interested in sewing and teaching school. She noted that the work of the mission sisters in the summer interested her, and two sisters encouraged her to join. After entering the community, she enrolled at the College of Saint Benedict, graduating with high honors in 1946 with a B.A. degree in home economics with a minor in Chemistry. After five years of teaching home economics and science at White Earth Reservation and Cathedral High School, she returned to the role of student in 1951 at the St. Cloud Hospital, where she earned certification as a medical technologist. After serving two years in the hospital in Humacao, Puerto Rico, Sister Nivard was assigned to St. Benedict's Hospital in Ogden, Utah, where she remained until 1977. In Utah, she did research and completed a Ph.D. in chemistry from Utah State University in 1971, and was noted for her excellence as a student and in the research lab. In 1972, at St. Benedict's Hospital in Ogden, she started a drug screening program that would identify different drugs in the body taken from a blood sample. She taught at Weber State University from 1974-1977 and developed a year-long integrated science core curriculum for allied health students. She left Utah in 1977 and taught chemistry at the College of Saint Benedict and St. John’s University until 1985.
During her sabbatical in 1983-1984, she studied computers in education at St. Cloud State University and the University of Minnesota. Sister Nevard felt that being a nun was her vocation, and being a biochemist was an avocation. Always a passionate lover of nature, she treasured walking in the woods and hiking in the mountain in Utah. She was appointed to the Monastery Land Task Team and was an advocate for the environment. She picked blueberries, raspberries, grapes, and currents in the woods. When she returned to St. Benedict's Monastery for her final assignment in the business office, she asked for one day off a month to spend in the woods.
