3rd nun from Our Lady of the Angels convent in Greenfield has died from COVID-19

GREENFIELD -- A third nun from Our Lady of the Angels convent in Greenfield passed away as a result of the coronavirus, FOX6 News learned Wednesday, April 15.

Officials at Our Lady of the Angels said Sister Mary Francele Sherburne passed away on April 9 as a result of COVID-19. They shared the below information on her life:

Remembering Sister Mary Francele Sherburne, SSND
Birth: March 7, 1921
Profession: July 23, 1942
Death: April 9, 2020
Greenfield, Wisconsin

Sister Mary Francele made her first profession of vows in 1942 and was assigned to teach music at Holy Redeemer grade school in Madison, Wisconsin, serving there for six years. She moved to the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1950, teaching there for four years before returning to Milwaukee. She devoted the next 24 years as a full-time professor teaching English at Mount Mary University, followed by eight years in a part-time role.

While at Mount Mary, Sister Francele worked with students on the college magazine and was moderator of the Honors Program. In addition to her ministry at Mount Mary, Sister Francele volunteered at Milwaukee Achiever weekly for 20 years teaching English as a second language.

In 1989, Sister Mary Francele began ministering to the elderly, serving six years at Milwaukee’s Interfaith, Inc. She resided in prayer and presence from 1995 through 2016 at Notre Dame of Elm Grove and lived at Our Lady of the Angels in Greenfield, Wisconsin, until April 9, 2020.

Sister Francele held a bachelor’s in English from the former Mount Mary College in Milwaukee, and master’s degrees in English and linguistics from DePaul University in Illinois and the University of Michigan, respectively.

Sister Francele had a passion for kite flying. She belonged to a professional group that specialized in kite making in elementary schools.

Our Lady of the Angels is a co-sponsored ministry of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and the School Sisters of St. Francis. It is a state-of-the-art home for retired sisters of both communities and offers specialized memory care. We are grateful for the hard work, care and compassion our sisters receive at Our Lady of the Angels.

The School Sisters of Notre Dame continue to pray for all who are impacted by COVID-19, especially our sisters, their families and those caring for our sisters.