POCATELLO, ID (12-20-2016) – The drama of her life now enters its final act, eternal life. Sister Dorothy Prokes, FSE died peacefully the evening of December 19, 2016 as her Sisters prayed around her bed at the Franciscan center in Pocatello. A well known educator, Sister Dorothy founded the CREative ACTing method of teaching, using creative dramatics as a central focus of the curriculum in elementary schools. Sister Dorothy founded the Franciscan CRE-ACT School in Pocatello and administered the program until 2008. In 2009, she and a colleague published A Roadmap to Education: The CRE-ACT Way.
Sister Dorothy’s flair for drama was well known among her professional colleagues. She was a member of the American Theatre Association Children’s Theatre of Creative Education Foundation and the Alliance for Arts in Education, along with other educational groups. In 1975 CRE-ACT School was Idaho’s representative to the National Conference for the Alliance for Arts in Education Conference at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Sister Dorothy was named Outstanding Elementary School Principal for 1985 by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Sister Dorothy was born on February 10, 1920 in Jackson, Minnesota where she lived until she entered the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, La Crosse, Wisconsin. She professed her first vows in 1940 and final vows in 1946. As a religious Sister, she was assigned to teach in parish schools in Wisconsin and Iowa. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1953 from Viterbo College, majoring in both Education and Art. In 1961 she received a Master of Arts in Education and English from University of Detroit. She completed her Ph.D. degree in Educational Theatre with a specialization in Creative Dramatics and Children’s Theatre from New York University in 1971.
In 1973 Sister Dorothy became a founding member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. In 1990 the Community celebrated her 50th jubilee of vows, and in 2015 she marked 75 years.
Sister Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Helen Prokes and Sister Stephen Prokes, O.S.B., several Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and a Franciscan Brother of the Eucharist. She is survived by her Community, the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and the Franciscan Brothers of the Eucharist, her sisters, Adeline Prokes of Mankato, Minnesota, and Sister Mary Timothy Prokes, FSE of Pocatello, and her brother, Reverend Francis A. Prokes, S.J.
A wake will be held at St. Joseph Church, Pocatello, on January 4th from 5:00-7:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on January 5th at St. Joseph Church at 11:00 a.m. Burial will be in the Franciscan Sisters’ Family Life Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are in the care of Sister Patricia Glass, FSE, funeral director, and Downard Funeral Home, Pocatello.