Recent Deaths

Sister Dolores Henke
1932–2023

Sister Dolores Henke, OSM, 90, died peacefully on May 24, 2023, at Ladysmith Care and Rehab.

She was born in Thorp, Wis., on August 10, 1932, to Emil and Anna (Baldeschwiler) Henke. She joined the Servants of Mary in Ladysmith in 1953 and received the religious name Sister Mary Marcelline.

She held a BA in elementary education from the College of St. Catherine, Saint Paul, Minn., and an MA in religious education from Loyola University Chicago.

As a teacher and later a principal, she worked for sixteen years in the Catholic school system in Weyerhaeuser, Wis.; Saint Paul, Minn.; and Chicago, Ill. In 1971 she joined the staff of the Christian Renewal Center in the Superior diocesan office of religious education, focusing on adult and family education. She later ministered at Newman University Parish, Stevens Point, Wis.; Christ the King Parish, South Bend, Ind; and Causeway Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers, La Crosse, Wis.

She served on the Servants of Mary leadership team for ten years and as the order’s director of communications and development. She was also president of Church Woman United of La Crosse.

She is survived by her twin sister Dorothy (Henke) Wozniak of Stanley, her sister Ruth (Henke) Rose of Onalaska, many nieces and nephews, and the Servite Sisters, with whom she shared life for 70 years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Emil and Anna; brother Lawrence Henke; sisters Sister Alice Henke, OSM, Eileen (Henke) Graham, Marie Henke, and Marian (Henke) Pabich.

Father Papi Reddy Yeruva, assisted by Father John Parr and Deacon Doug Sorensen, presided at a Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Dolores at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Ladysmith on June 5, 2023, with burial in Riverside Cemetery in Ladysmith.