Recent Deaths

Sister Mary Christina Gelting, OSM
1925–2014

Sister Mary Christina Gelting, OSM, 89, died peacefully June 15, 2014, at Ladysmith Care & Rehab in Ladysmith Wis.

Sister was born in Cumberland, Wis., on April 24, 1925. She joined the Servants of Mary in 1942 and professed first vows in 1944. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Norbert College in DePere, Wis. and a master’s in Earth Science at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana through a National Science Foundation grant. She was awarded two other National Science Foundation grants for summer studies in Biology and Physics after receiving her Masters.

Sister Christina was a born teacher whose long teaching career spanned more than 50 years. She taught 5th and 6th grades for 20 years and 7th and 8th grades for 30 years in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. She started an all-school science program at St. Rose of Lima School in St. Paul, Minn., where she taught for 18 consecutive years. She also taught science, math, geography, and religion at Servite High School, Ladysmith, from 1962-64, and freshman biology at Mount Senario College, Ladysmith, the summers of 1975 and 1976.

Upon retiring from teaching in 1994, she was included in that year’s Who’s Who Among American Teachers. After her retirement from the classroom she spent ten years as coordinator of the Senior Citizen Club at the Howard Area Community Center in Chicago. She then moved to Ladysmith where she lived at the Motherhouse and Care Partners Assisted Living.

Sister is survived by her brother William (Carol Ann), her sister Teresa Cihunka, extended family, friends, and her Servite Sisters. She was preceded in death by her parents Bernard and Christina (Becker) Gelting and brothers Bernard (Joan) and Melvin (Janet).

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