Sister Marcella Meluch

April 22, 1930 - January 1, 2013

Sister M. Marcella (Elizabeth) Meluch died on January 1, 2013, in Westfield, Mass. She was 82 and in her 65th years of religious life.

Considered a “go-to person” by the people she served, Sister Marcella entered our community in 1946 and professed final vows in 1948. Over the years, she taught kindergarten through eighth grade and was principal and director of religious education at parish schools in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Oregon, West Virginia and Massachusetts. She also served as a general councilor in Rome, and as provincial minister and provincial councilor of the former Bethlehem Province.

Sister Marcella spent 31 years ministering to the people of St. Peter and St. Casimir Parish in Westfield, where the School Sisters had been in ministry since 1945. She was so beloved by the people of the parish that, during a 30th anniversary luncheon in her honor, they presented her with an all-expenses-paid trip to Rome – a trip she did not get to take.

Her final class of second-graders was as moved by her passing as the people were by the students’ presence at her funeral. They brought balloons to the visitation and laid a single white rose in her casket. After the casket left the church and was loaded into the hearse, the children released the balloons to the heavens.

More than 150 people attended the visitation at St. Peter and St. Casimir Church. “The people were edified by how she listened to them, just talked to them, and helped them through their struggles,” says Sister Bernadine Marie Stemnock. “Her funeral was testimony to that. People are proud to say they belong to that parish.”

Sister Marcella’s death brought to a close our congregation’s 67-year ministry at St. Peter and St. Casimir. “I believe the people there are ready to take over,” said Sister Bernadine Marie in 2013. “They already miss our Franciscan presence there, but we have given them a sound foundation, and they are ready.”

Sister Marcella was preceded in death by her parents, John Anthony and Mary (Bekech) Meluch, and her brother John. She is survived by her religious community, her sister Mary Ann Chamberland, three nieces, three great nieces and five great nephews.

Sister Marcella is buried in a private family plot.