Comments:
Sister Estelle was the Principal for our Junior and Senior years.
We were saddened to learn that she has died.
Photo from a few years ago is attached to her profile.
This bio was published after her death:
Dear God
Thank you for me,
For my life, for my loves.
For my joys and my sorrows,
And for my death
This hand written prayer was found in Sister Estelle’s Rule and Constitutions along with her Vow Card. It was the way in which she wished to be remembered.
Sister Estelle (Ann Laufersweiler) was born in Columbus, Ohio, on September 18, 1923, to William and Hertha (Wittenmeier) Laufersweiler. After high school Ann left her parents and brother, Bill, to enter the novitiate of the Sisters of St. Francis at Stella Niagara on September 7, 1941. She professed her first vows on August 18, 1943.
Sister Estelle’s teaching career included elementary schools in Columbus and Athens, Ohio and Buffalo high schools: St. Aloysius, New Lexington; Seminary of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Stella Niagara (Principal); Charleston Catholic, WV, and Father Duenas Memorial High School in Guam (1975-1982) .
Before her Guam experience, Sister Estelle worked in administration at Daemen College for several years, and after Guam ministered to mentally challenged adults in Florida before taking on pastoral ministry at the Church of the Resurrection in Fort Meyers, Florida (1985-2002).
A letter from a former student in Guam (now Father Eric Forbes, OFM Cap.) captures some of the uniqueness which endeared Sister Estelle to so many people. “She was…always sarcastic in a lovable way, always on top of her game, always prepared for class. In other words, she was fun. We students loved poking fun at her outside of class and she had fun giving it right back to us.”
During the last two years of her life, until several days before her death, Sister Estelle served as a receptionist at Stella Niagara’s entrance where she used her gifts to share the joy of life with sisters, guests, workers and delivery personnel.
She died on January 21, 2009 in Mount St. Mary Hospital, and after a Mass of Christian Burial attended by many sisters, nieces, nephews, and friends, was laid to rest in Stella Niagara Cemetery on January 24, 2009.
