RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. — A funeral Mass for Sr. Mary Rosaleen Dorlac, FSM, 97, was celebrated on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Mary of the Angels Convent, Richmond Heights, Mo. She was buried in Resurrection Cemetery.
Sr. Mary Rosaleen died at 4:15 a.m. on Friday, April 17, at St. Mary of the Angels Convent after more than 78 years as a sister.
She was born Mary Elizabeth Leona Dorlac (Leona to her family) on September 25, 1911, in St. Louis, to William and Wilhemina (Stute) Dorlac. The family moved to De Soto, where she attended St. Rose of Lima School and De Soto High School. She then worked as an administrative secretary for International Shoe Company.
On May 25, 1930, she joined the Sisters of St. Mary, who in 1987 reunited with the Sisters of St. Francis of Maryville, Mo., to become the Franciscan Sisters of Mary. She was given the name Sr. Mary Rosaleen, and she professed final vows on February 15, 1936.
She graduated from nursing school in 1937 and earned both her B.S. (1946) and M.S. (1956) degrees in Nursing Education from St. Louis University.
She served as obstetrics supervisor at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Charles; St. Eugene’s Hospital in Dillon, South Carolina; Desloge Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Louis; and St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, where she also served as assistant administrator and administrator. For more than 15 years she worked as finance secretary for the congregation’s leadership team. In 1986 she retired, residing at St. Mary’s Ringling Convent in Baraboo, Wisconsin, until in 1998 she returned to St Mary of the Angels Convent, where she continued to volunteer her services.