Compiled
by
Adam
Dickerson
Sister
Alvera Staed, O.S.F.
Sister Alvera Staed, O.S.F., born Mabel Marie Staed, died in Assisi House
on April 14, 2007. She was 96 and had been a professed member of the Sisters
of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 76 years.
Born in Indiana and raised in Oklahoma, she entered the congregation in
1928. She ministered in elementary education as a teacher, as a caregiver
of children in several boarding schools, and in domestic work. She served
in Oklahoma as well as the Diocese of Wilmington, Del., and the Archdiocese
of Baltimore. In 2001 she moved to Assisi House in Aston, Pa., where she
served in prayer ministry until her death.
A funeral Mass was celebrated April 18 at Assisi House, with burial at
Our Lady of Angels Cemetery.
She is survived by her brother, George Staed; nieces and nephews, and
her Franciscan family.
Sister Teresa Lane, S.B.S.
Sister Mary Teresa Martin Lane, S.B.S, baptized Johanna Theresa Lane,
died April 17, 2007. She was 91.
She was one of six children born to John and Margaret Stack Lane of County
Kerry, Ireland. She entered the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1934
and professed her final vows in 1942.
She served as a teacher and in parish ministry in Georgia, Missouri, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Illinois, South Dakota and Arizona. She returned to St. Michael
Hall in Bensalem in 1994 when she could no longer work because of her
health.
A funeral Mass was celebrated April 24 at the congregation’s motherhouse
chapel and interment was in the motherhouse cemetery.
She is survived by nieces and nephews in Ireland and the sisters of her
Congregation.
Sister Jane Heaton, M.M.S.
Sister Jane Heaton, M.M.S., died April 19, 2007 at the Holy Redeemer Infirmary,
Huntingdon Valley. She was 86.
Entering the Medical Mission Sisters in 1939, she made her first profession
of vows in 1942. She earned her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from
George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and later continued her
studies in Pittsburgh and St. Louis. For 20 years she was in charge of
the pharmacy at her congregation’s hospital in India. When she returned
to the United States, she served in Washington, D.C., and Florida, before
she began part-time pharmacy ministries in Philadelphia.
She retired from pharmacy work in the mid-1990s, and volunteered her services
to a number of community support positions within the Medical Mission
Sisters’ Mission Development Center in Philadelphia. She moved to
Holy Redeemer Infirmary in 2006.
A funeral Mass was celebrated April 24 at the Sisters’ North American
Headquarters in Fox Chase. Burial followed in the congregation cemetery.