ROCKFORD—Elizabeth “Beth” Kenagy appreciates that her first week at Bishop Lane Retreat Center as its new director was a quiet one.
All that changed as the final week of August flowed into September and a busy fall.
Kenagy took a break from learning the ins and outs of the kitchen, the buildings and the grounds at the retreat center to chat a bit about how she came to her new position.
Born and raised in Lake Zurich, Kenagy is the youngest of four in what she calls “a faith-filled family” that includes her permanent deacon dad. She attended Mt. Carmel High School in Mundelein followed by Drake University in Des Moines.
Kenagy began as a business major, then switched to religion with a minor in business. A class on death and dying “sort of spoke to me,” she says. After considering options such as hospice and hospital chaplaincy, she “decided on the funeral route” and attended mortuary school.
She comes to Bishop Lane after seven years of work as a funeral director and office manager at Olson Funeral Home in Rockford. There she met different people every day from all walks of life, from all faiths and “got used to working with different personalities at difficult times” in their lives, she says.
Kenagy has been married for three years, and her family includes her 11-year-old stepson and seven month old daughter. Her husband, who is from Winnebago, works at Calvary Cemetery. Their church is St. Mary Parish in Byron.
“I’ve always been drawn to this sort of work,” she says of the retreat center. “When I saw the position was open, it seemed to make sense (and) that I’d be able to find some sort of ministry” in this new work.
Having heard that the retreat center has been changing in many positive ways, she says she wants to keep that momentum going in the right direction. She is glad that the retreat center, while primarily Catholic, can accommodate other groups also. She plans on “keeping the place busy” with groups of all sorts, and adds, “I want it to be a place that people can come and don’t worry about a thing.”