Mary Nelle Gage SL

Mary Nelle was raised in Texas and graduated from Loretto Heights College ('66) where she met the Sisters of Loretto. After entering Loretto in 1967, she taught English, speech and drama at St. Mary's Academy and Machebeuf High School. Mary Nelle joined Sister Susan Carol McDonald in Saigon, Vietnam, to care for orphans and to assist with their adoption. For 20 years she resettled refugees for several church agencies. For 30 years she has done customer service at American Airlines and does occasional marketing for EarthLinks. She is involved in the preservation and re-development of the LHC (Loretto Heights College) campus.

Invisible Threads

“Invisible Threads,” the April gathering in Boulder, Colo., of members of the Vietnamese adoptee group, warmed our hearts and brought hope. During these days we were able to individually share family adoption files. Susan Carol McDonald and I worked in…

Older residents at the Loretto Motherhouse in Kentucky sitting around a table with a West End Women's Collaborative member creating a collage.

Special Needs Fund Update

Loretto’s Special Needs Fund is one component of Loretto’s Mission, as inspired and directed by our Loretto Constitutions: “As we stand with Mary at the Foot of the Cross, we strive to bring the healing Spirit if God into our…

A man playing a guitar and a woman singing reading the lyrics on a paper. They are sitting on the floor together in a room with a wooden desk behind them.

Time Travel: resettling Vietnamese refugees in 1977

In October 1977 eleven refugees from Vietnam sheltered at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Frederick, Colo., where Elizabeth Dyer and Kathy Santopietro worked with Leonard and Peter Urban. The families resettled in Longmont, Colo. Enjoy these photos from the past…

Six women standing and smiling together for a group picture outdoors on a sunny day in front o a green grass field and a dark green lamp post. They are all wearing nice dress clothing, and two women are wearing matching green lanyards with a white card on the end.

Loretto Heights College reunion a grand affair

The Loretto Heights College all-class reunion was held July 14-15 in Denver, organized by the Spirit of Loretto Committee comprised of LHC alumni from numerous years. The first day on our former campus was spent hearing presentations describing the now-and-future…

Loretto Heights provides affordable housing

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. Lucius Annaeus Seneca Pancratia Hall has been carefully restored and renovated into affordable housing apartments including a number of three and four-bedroom units suitable for families. Hartman Ely Investments’ announcement of…

Three women, one holding a baby stand in a doorway in this black and white archival photo.

Vietnam: answering the call

‘Get your passport, get your shots; I need help.’ Susan Carol McDonald SL to Mary Nelle Gage SL in June 1973 The Vietnam War gave rise to thousands of orphans. As husbands and fathers were killed, surviving mothers became the…

Osceola House, a beige brick, one-story with dark red window awnings and a brown shingle roof with a green grass lawn, concrete driveway, and large green bushes.

Love and Joy of Osceola House Live On

Bidding farewell to a home, to a house of hospitality, where the companionship, the conversation and the cuisine have been delightful is hauntingly hard. Loretto’s paving the way for a family of limited means to own their home in a…