Cecile Marie Kees

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Monday, October 20, 2025
Visitation: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m., and 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. at Nazareth Court and Center
Prayer Service: 11:00 a.m. in Nazareth Center Chapel
Liturgy of Christian Burial: 2:00 p.m. at St. Francis Home Chapel
Burial will take place at St. Joseph Springs Cemetery, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, at a time to be determined following cremation.

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Sister Cecile Marie Kees, CSA, baptized Alfreda Veronica, died peacefully October 13, 2025, at St. Francis Home, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Alfreda was born in St. John, Wisconsin, on September 14, 1927, to Michael and Clara Popp Kees. Her father’s first wife, Theresa, died leaving three small children. Michael then married Clara and together they had ten girls and four boys creating a close-knit family of seventeen children. As a young child Alfreda thought about being a Sister yet quickly put such thoughts aside as she enjoyed life on the family farm. After eighth grade graduation she was hired by her uncle to do household chores for his wife who was ill. She was happy in this role until her mother died when she was fifteen. Alfreda returned home to help care for her eight younger siblings. While managing many family responsibilities, the desire she first experienced in childhood to be a Sister began to tug at her heart again. After much prayer and with the blessing of her father, she entered St. Agnes Convent on August 30, 1947. She attended St. Agnes High School graduating in 1950. She made her first profession of vows in the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes as Sister Cecile Marie on August 15, 1952, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Sister earned a BS in Education from Marian College, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; a master’s degree in elementary education from St. Francis College, Fort Wayne, Indiana; and a master’s degree in theology from St. Thomas University, Houston, Texas. She served in rural and urban settings as an elementary teacher, a coordinator of religious education and adult formation, and as a pastoral and social service outreach minister. Sister Cecile Marie’s heart for the poor and needy guided her ministerial commitments. She lived keenly aware of God’s presence directing her life and the lives of those she served.

Sister Cecile Marie taught in parish schools in New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Wisconsin (1952-1978). She then was assigned as Director of Religious Education for all ages at St. Jude Parish, Beloit, Wisconsin (1979-1984). From 1984-1986, Sister relished living and engaging in ministry at Unity House on the South Side of Chicago, a CSA sponsored neighborhood outreach center in the inner city. She also taught religion classes at Holy Angels Catholic School near Unity House. While at Unity House, Sister felt called to spend time with the Living Stones of Jesus, a charismatic religious community for single women and men founded by her sister, Sister Annacile Kees. She was granted permission to spend a year in prayer and discernment with this community to seek where God was calling her. After this year, Sister returned home to CSA firmly convinced of her call to be a Sister of St. Agnes. Following her return, she served as Director of Religious Education at SS. Peter and Paul Parish, Hortonville, Wisconsin, and then was assigned to be Assistant Coordinator at Nazareth Heights, the CSA retirement center in Fond du Lac. Sister’s final nine years in active ministry were spent serving in a variety of pastoral roles with Sister Jovita Winkel in the northern Wisconsin parish cluster of Our Lady of Sorrows, in Ladysmith, St. Anthony, in Tony, and St. Mary in Hawkins.

Sister chose to return to Fond du Lac in 2003, living at a local mission house and then at the CSA motherhouse while volunteering as a seamstress for the retired sisters at Nazareth Court & Center. In 2010, Sister became a resident at the retirement center, continuing to volunteer as she was able. She was loved for her caring, faith-filled presence among the sisters, the staff, and all the residents, especially those at St. Francis Home, where she lived her final days. Until she was called home, she reached out to touch others with the goodness of God in her own unique and beloved ways.

Sister Cecile Marie was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Adelbert, Herman, Joseph, and Leonard, her sisters Rita Mueller, Alvera Kees, Lillian Kees, Ruth Uitenbroek, Hildegard Kees, Sister Annacile Kees, Regina Brickner, and Sister Marie Kees, CSA.

Sister is survived by her brothers Martin and Michael (Christine) Kees, her sisters Dorothy (Roland) Brandt, and Ann (Charles) Peters; her nieces, nephews, their families and by the Sisters of St. Agnes, with whom she lived, prayed, and ministered.

Services for Sister Cecile Marie will be held on Monday, October 20, 2025.

Visitation will be held from 9:00–11:00 a.m. and 12:00–1:30 p.m. at Nazareth Court and Center, 375 Gillett Street, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

A Prayer Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. in Nazareth Center Chapel, 375 Gillett Street, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

The Liturgy of Christian Burial will be at 2:00 p.m. at St. Francis Home Chapel, 33 Everett Street, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, with Fr. Thomas Zelinski, OFM Cap., presiding.

Burial will take place at St. Joseph Springs Cemetery, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, at a time to be determined following cremation.

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

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

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