Loretta Meidl

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Sister Loretta Meidl, CSA, formerly Sister Eva, died peacefully, October 27, 2021, at St. Francis Home, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Loretta was born in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, on March 15, 1925, the youngest of eight children, seven girls and one boy, born to Anton Meidl and Frances Schreiner Meidl.  Both of Loretta’s parents died of cancer by the time she was ten years old. Her sister, Hattie Thomas, took Loretta into her home in Mayville, Wisconsin, and raised her with her own children. Loretta entered St. Agnes Convent in 1939 and attended St. Agnes High School in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.  She made her profession of vows in the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes as Sister Eva on August 15, 1944, in Fond du Lac.

For the first twenty-six years of her religious life, Sister Loretta served her CSA sisters as a homemaker and laundress on mission sites in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, and Ohio; worked at St. Clare Hospital, Monroe, Wisconsin, with food services; cared for the young boys and later the older girls at Holy Family Orphanage in Marquette, Michigan. Sister Loretta treasured her memories of providing care for the boys who were brought to the orphanage as part of Operation Peter Pan, a Catholic humanitarian effort that brought unaccompanied minors to the U.S. from Cuba after Fidel Castro’s rise to power in 1959.

In 1971, Sister Loretta, desiring to broaden her skills for ministry, began to take educational courses that qualified her to be a certified teacher aide and a library aide in schools in New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Her study of Spanish in Coahuila, Mexico, enabled her to minister among the Spanish community at St. Louis and St. Patrick’s Parish in Fond du Lac. In July 1996, Sister Loretta moved to Boyle Apostolic Center and volunteered as a Foster Grandparent at nearby St. Patrick’s School, Fond du Lac.

Sister Loretta joined the community of sisters at Nazareth Court and Center in June 2001. There she served as the sacristan for daily Masses, crocheted colorful scrubbies for craft sales, and accompanied sisters who were sick or near death. Her own health declining, she was admitted to St. Francis Home in October 2019, where she received loving care until the time of her death.

Sister Loretta was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Joseph, her sisters Agnes Meidl, Esther Meidl, Emily Seal, Hattie Thomas, Rose Tollard, and Sister Mary Jude Meidl, CSA.

She is survived by her nieces and nephews and the Sisters of St. Agnes with whom she lived, prayed, and ministered.

Cremation has taken place. Visitation will be held at Nazareth Court and Center, 375 Gillett Street, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, from 9:00-11:00 a.m. and from 12:00 -1:30 p.m. on November 18, 2021.

A prayer service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on November 18, 2021, in the Nazareth Center Chapel. Please check in for the Visitation, Prayer Service, and Mass at the 375 Gillett Street entrance only.  

The Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Loretta will be held November 18, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. in Nazareth Center Chapel, 375 Gillett Street, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, with Father Kenneth Smits, Capuchin, presiding. Burial will follow at St. Joseph Springs Cemetery, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Memorials may be directed to the CSA Mission Advancement Office, 320 County Road K, Fond du Lac, WI 54937.

The Sisters of St. Agnes are grateful to the nurses and staff of Nazareth Court and Center, St. Francis Home, and Hospice Hope for their care of Sister Loretta.

Zacherl Funeral Home is serving the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes.