A funeral Mass was celebrated for Sister Rose Marie Mersinger, CPPS, Nov. 20 in the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood’s St. Joseph Chapel in O’Fallon. Sister Rose Marie died Nov. 17 at age 87.
Born in St. Louis, she attended St. Elizabeth Academy and entered the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood in 1950, professing first vows in 1952. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education at Quincy College in Quincy, Illinois.
For the first 10 years of her religious life, Sister Rose Marie was an elementary school teacher. In Missouri she taught at St. Joseph in Martinsburg, St. Vincent in Dutzow and St. Stephen Protomartyr in St. Louis. She also taught in Tennessee and Illinois.
Sister Rose Marie then ministered for 20 years in education, pastoral care and formation in Bolivia and Peru. Everywhere she served, but perhaps most notably in South America, she brought a can-do, will-do attitude, according to those who worked with her.
Upon returning to the United States, Sister Rose Marie ministered to adults with disabilities in the Personal Enrichment Program (PEP) in O’Fallon and with the Spanish-speaking communities of Alpine and Marfa, Texas. She also served as motherhouse administrator and as coordinator and maintenance worker at St. Elizabeth Convent. In 2006 she began volunteering at the motherhouse and since 2018 has ministered through prayer and presence at The Meadowlands.
Survivors include a sister, Agnes Kelly.
