Sister Lois Marrah, OSF (1917-2017)

Wed, Oct 4th 2017 02:05 pm

Sister Lois Marrah, OSF, died Sept. 24, 2017, in the health center of the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity in Stella Niagara. She was 100 years old.

The former Grace Marrah was born June 29, 1917, in Columbus, Ohio, to Charles and Catherine (Schwartz) Marrah. She joined the Sisters of St. Francis in Stella Niagara in 1936 and professed perpetual vows in 1941.

Sister Lois attended Sawyer Business School in Buffalo, and received a bachelor's degree from St. Mary of the Springs in Columbus in 1951. She also earned a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., in 1957.

Early in her ministry, she taught at St. Joseph School in Gowanda from 1938-42. Sister Lois taught at Bishop McMahon High School in Buffalo from 1957-58, and Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart from 1958-60 and 1969-73. She served as principal of the Seminary of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Stella Niagara from 1960-62. Throughout her ministry, she served intermittently in the Dioceses of Buffalo, Columbus, Wheeling/Charleston, W.V., and Trenton, N.J.

In addition to teaching, various tasks Sister Lois performed in her many years of services included office work, pastoral ministry and adult religious education. She retired to Stella Niagara in 1997 and became a resident of the Stella Niagara Health Center in 2002.

She is survived by nieces and nephews.

A funeral Mass was held in the sisters' chapel in Stella Niagara, with burial in Sisters Cemetery in Stella Niagara.