Sister Pattie O’Pounder, lovingly dubbed “Drill Sergeant” by the legendary Sister Roma of the San Francisco House of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, currently serves as the Abbess of the Fourth City Sisters, Abbey of the Glittering Arch. As radiant and resilient as the Gateway Arch itself, Sister Pattie has become one of the city’s brightest beacons of queer love, service, and joy.
2025 Luminary Pattie O’Pounder. Photo credit: John Frey
Since devoting herself to the St. Louis community, Sister Pattie has built sparkling bridges between local universities, creating space for queer students to be loved, respected, supported, and protected. Among her crowning achievements are the first multi-university queer graduation luncheon and the first multi-university Trans Day of Remembrance Candlelight Vigil. These events stitched together campuses, clubs, and hearts across the region. Through her leadership, partnerships have formed that will outlast any one administration, creating a living legacy of connection and care.
Though she only joined the Sisterhood in 2024, Pattie has worked at the speed of glitter and grace. Drawing on her nonprofit experience and day-job leadership skills, she hit every milestone with divine precision, earning her veil as a Fully Professed Sister ahead of schedule. Along the way, she served as Mistress of Grants and Alms, rallying resources for beloved events like Drag Story Time, Kings & Creatures, and the 2024 Exequatur Conclave, where over 60 Sisters and Siblings from around the world descended on St. Louis for Tower Grove Pride, now the shining jewel in the Fourth City annual calendar.
As Abbess, known in the secular world as President, Sister Pattie is leading with vision and heart. Her latest passion project, Amplify the Arch: A Conference BY and FOR Queer Youth, continues her mission to nurture the next generation. As she puts it, “A whole generation was taken out by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, so I didn’t have a queer mentor to guide me through my coming out. Now it’s our turn to be the mentors we needed.”
Under her leadership, the Fourth City Sisters champion causes close to the heart of the queer community: trans advocacy, HIV/AIDS care, safer sex, sexual liberation, and freedom of expression. The house proudly volunteers and raises funds for organizations like Metro Trans Umbrella Group, Vivent Health, and PROMO Missouri. But for Sister Pattie, the truest ministry isn’t in the spreadsheets or speeches. It’s in the simple act of manifesting, in full regalia and full heart, to spread universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt. “We dress in fabulous outfits and ridiculous looks with intention,” she says. “Not just to be pretty, though the spackle and spray paint help, but to shift the spotlight onto our message, so others can feel safe being seen.”
You can follow the Fourth City Sisters at @fourthcitysisters or fourthcitysisters.org, and keep up with Pattie herself at @pattie_opounder, where she continues to prove that a little love, a lot of laughter, and a touch of glitter can truly change the world.
