Topic archive
Remembrances
The prayer card for Loretto’s deceased members reads, “Gracious God, may they live forever in the splendor of your light and life in the company of all the saints.” We know that they do, but it’s good to say it. View all Obituaries.
Remembrance of the Life of Joan Blessum Mahan CoL
Author’s Note: The following is drawn in large measure from a remembrance by Margaret Blessum, the youngest of the Blessum family, in celebration of her older sister, Joan. It was delivered by Margaret at the service before Joan’s burial in…
Remembrance of the Life of Sister Maureen (formerly Sister Ann Maureen) McCormack SL
Maureen Frances McCormack was born in St. Louis, the third of four daughters born to John Clement McCormack of Waukon, Iowa, and Ozzara Deluhery of Los Angeles. Maureen’s older sisters, Janet and Jean, were twins barely a year older than…
Remembrance of the Life of Sister Susan Carol McDonald SL
(What follows is the reflection, “The Susan I Have Known,” as told to Mary Louise Denny SL “over the years.”) For some 30 years I have been blessed knowing Susan. And the Susan I knew was a complicated and incredibly…
Remembrance of the Life of Maureen Smith CoL
The following is Maureen Smith’s autobiography, dated Sept. 7, 2018: I was born and lived, until moving to the Loretto Motherhouse, in my family home in Schenectady, N.Y. On my 87th birthday, my niece gave me my Dad’s diary, which…
Remembrance of the Life of Gaetana ‘Gay’ Lenox CoL
Gay DiCerto Lenox was born in El Cento, Calif., May 19, 1935. She was baptized Gaetana Angela, but was known as Gay. Her parents were Valentino and Angeline Christine DiCerto. Gay had three sisters, Angie, Valerie and Anna, and two…
Remembrance of the Life of Sister Dolores Kelledy SL
The first words of Dolores Kelledy’s 1976 autobiography go right to the heart of the matter: “I became interested in the Sisters of Loretto while attending elementary school in the Sacred Heart Parish. The Lorettines there portrayed such a friendly…
Remembrance of the Life of Norma Mason-Stikes CoL
(The following obituary was kindly provided to Loretto courtesy of Norma Mason-Stikes son, Carey Mason.) Norma Catherine Decker Mason-Stikes, celebrated 89 years of a life well-lived, and on the morning of August 10, 2020, she took her last breath and…
Remembrance of the Life of Sister Mary Peter Bruce SL
Mary Peter Bruce was the eldest daughter of James H. Bruce and Dolores Novoa, known as Lola. They named her Dolores Patricia and called her Patsy. She had three siblings, Lillian, Jimmy and Johnny, many cousins in Mexico and in…
Remembrance of the Life of Sister Mary Frances (formerly Sister Margaret Mary) Lottes SL
Mary Frances Lottes was born into what she describes as “a secure and happy life in a large family during the Depression years.” She was the fourth child of Arthur and Roberta Lottes, with Helen, Arthur, and Richard before her…
Remembrance of the Life of Sister Nancy Finneran SL
In Granite City, Ill., at the height of the Depression, Martin Joseph Finneran and his wife Fannie Price Finneran welcomed their fifth and final child and named her Nancy Jane. Before the end of the hard times the family had…
Remembrance of the Life of Anne Spillane CoL
“I was born in St. Louis in 1927, the youngest of Thomas and Mary Elizabeth’s three children. I spent a marvelously happy childhood in St. Luke’s Parish, Richmond Heights, Mo. [with my brother Tom and sister Mary Jane who called…
Remembrance of the Life of Jossy Eyre CoL
Josepha Eyre was the eighth of 10 children born to Elizabeth Margaret Purcell and Francis Anton Schretien in Nijmegan, Holland, in 1931. She described her life as “before” and “since the war.” Her early years were relatively uneventful, with school…