Recent Deaths

Sister Cecilia Fandel
1940–2024

Sister Cecilia Fandel, OSM, age 83, died peacefully on June 29, 2024, at Marshfield Medical Center in Marshfield, Wis.

Cecilia Rose Fandel was born December 29, 1940, in Ladysmith, Wis., to Richard and Mildred (Haasl) Fandel, the sixth of thirteen children. She attended Our Lady of Sorrows grade school and high school in Ladysmith, where she was taught by Servite Sisters.

She entered the Servants of Mary during her senior year in high school, on December 8, 1957. She received the white veil of a novice and the religious name Sister Mary Martin on June 19, 1958. She professed first vows on June 20, 1959, and final vows on June 19, 1965.

Sister Cecilia held a bachelor’s degree from Mount Senario College and a master’s in community and organizational development from Loyola University Chicago.

She taught for fourteen years in Catholic elementary schools staffed by the Servants of Mary, including St. Rose of Lima, Roseville, Minn.; St. Therese, Deephaven, Minn.; St. Jerome’s, Maplewood, Minn.; and Our Lady of Sorrows, Ladysmith, where she was also principal.

She served her religious community as Director of Vocations and Formation and as a two-term member of the Leadership Team.

In 1987 she moved to Chicago to work at the Howard Area Community Center, where she did community organizing around issues of crime, education, environment, immigration, and political structures, while at the same time serving as Director of Religious Education at St. Henry’s Catholic Church, a multilingual parish in Chicago. In recognition of her positive impact on people’s lives she received the Archdiocesan Catechetical Ministry Award, Spirit of Rogers Park Award, Senior Citizens Hall of Fame Luminary Award, and, for 25 years of distinguished service, the Howard Area Community Center Award.

Sister Cecilia retired in 2011 and moved back to Ladysmith, where she immersed herself in volunteer activities. She helped organize Spanish masses for the Hispanic community and taught English to migrant farmworkers. She served as president of the Rusk County Historical Society and was influential in bringing Native American exhibits to the museum. In 2016 she received the Distinguished Graduate Award from Our Lady of Sorrows School.

She lived a life of service to and among those who are poor and marginalized, helping them to develop leadership skills and to let their voices be heard.

Sister Cecilia is survived by three brothers, Richard (Sondra) Fandel, Harold Fandel, and Patrick (Bonnie) Fandel; six sisters, Elizabeth Johnson, Sylvia Fandel, Joan (James) Klemko, Mary (Peter) Cumiskey, Rita (Norman) Regnier, and Julianne (Carl) Nyberg; one brother-in-law, Wilbert (Margaret) Ferry; two sisters-in-law, Martha (Thomas) Fandel and Cheryl (Denis) Fandel; nieces and nephews; and the Servite Sisters, with whom she shared life for 67 years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Richard and Mildred (Haasl) Fandel; sister, Margaret (Fandel) Ferry; brothers, Thomas Fandel and Denis Fandel; and brother-in-law, Roy (Elizabeth) Johnson.

Father Papi Reddy Yeruva presided at the Mass of Christian Burial, assisted by his brother Father Paul Reddy Yeruva, Father Christopher Kemp, and Deacons Craig Voldberg and Thomas Fuhrmann, at Our Lady of Sorrows Church on July 10, 2024, with burial in Riverside Cemetery in Ladysmith.