Recent Deaths

Sister Loretta Lonsdorf
1926–2022

Sister Loretta Lonsdorf, OSM, 96, died peacefully at Brentwood Senior Communities in Rice Lake, Wis., on December 31, 2022.

She was born in Athens, Wis., on June 2, 1926, the daughter of Herbert and Mary (Greiner) Lonsdorf.

She entered the Servants of Mary in Ladysmith, Wis., as a postulant on Sept. 6, 1944, and professed first vows on Aug. 16, 1946. Her religious name was Sister Mary Marcella.

She received a bachelor’s in education from St. Norbert College, De Pere, Wis., and master’s in theology and pastoral ministry from St. Thomas University, Houston, Tex.

She ministered for 41 years as a teacher and principal in Catholic elementary schools in Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. She served as a parish visitor and as director of the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults for 17 years at St. Anthony Parish, Brooksville, Fla.

Sister Loretta is survived by her niece Patrece Benson Mueller of Eau Claire, many other nieces and nephews, and the Ladysmith Servite Sisters, with whom she shared life for 78 years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Herbert and Mary Lonsdorf; one brother, Karl (Dottie) Lonsdorf; and three sisters, Germaine Lonsdorf, Sylvia (Gerald) Zehm, and Mary (Conrad) Benson.

The Servite Sisters wish to thank the staff at Brentwood and Marshfield Hospice for their kind and compassionate care of Sister Loretta.

Funeral services will be held in the spring of 2023, with burial in the Servite Sisters’ section of Riverside Cemetery in Ladysmith.