A funeral Mass for Loretto Sister Patricia “Pat” (formerly Sister Vincent Marie) Frueh was celebrated Nov. 24 in the Church of the Seven Dolors on the grounds of Loretto Motherhouse in Nerinx, Kentucky. Sister Pat devoted her ministry to teaching, religious education and nursing in the St. Louis Archdiocese and elsewhere in Missouri and in Iowa, Kentucky and New Mexico. She died Nov. 15 at Loretto Living Center on the grounds of the Loretto Motherhouse. She was 92 and in the 73rd year of her Loretto commitment.
Sister Pat was born May 5, 1933, in Afton, Iowa, to parents Ethyl (Heine) and John Frueh. She entered the Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross in 1952, was received into the congregation April 25, 1953, made her first vows in 1955 and her final vows in 1958. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1957 and a master’s in teaching in religious education in 1969, both from Webster College (now University) in Webster Groves. In 1987, she earned an associate’s degree in nursing from Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colorado, and certification as a registered nurse.
In the St. Louis Archdiocese, Sister Pat taught at St. Cronan School, St. Louis (1957-58); taught and served as primary coordinator at St. Ferdinand, Florissant (1958-64); and taught at St. Ann, Normandy (1964-66) and Immaculate Conception, Maplewood (1969-71). From 2008-13, she served as a part-time nurse at Loretto Center in Webster Groves and as a caregiver and nurse for Senior Helpers in St. Louis.
Elsewhere, Sister Pat taught, was a religion coordinator and served for many years as a nurse in Kentucky, taught in Iowa and New Mexico and coordinated religious education at a parish school in Kansas City, Missouri. She served as secretary to the service coordinator (2000-04) at Loretto Motherhouse, where she also served as a gardener and canner (2004-08).
Moving back to the Loretto Motherhouse, Sister Pat served as part-time convent nurse and gardener (2013-16). In her later years, she continued to enjoy gardening, was considered an excellent cook and baker and was a practitioner of “healing touch” massage. She also assisted with driving the sisters and served as a eucharistic minister in the Loretto Infirmary. Through simple acts of kindness, Sister Pat brought joy and unexpected delight to all whose lives she touched.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother John (Jack) E. Frueh and two sisters, Claudine T. Moore and Margaret A. Shepherd. She is survived by her siblings William D. Frueh (Denise) and Charles F. Frueh (Martha), and many special nieces and nephews.
Burial was in Our Lady of Sorrows Cemetery on the Motherhouse grounds.
