Marist Sister Loretto Gerarda Welsh served Hawaii seminary at its peak

Marist Missionary Sister Loretto Gerarda Welsh, who served in Hawaii for 12 years during the 1950s and 60s at St. Stephen’s Seminary, died on Dec. 22, in Rocky Creek Village in Tampa, Fla. She was 72 and a religious sister for 52 years. She celebrated the jubilee of her profession last year.

Loretto Gerarda Welsh was born in Toronto, Canada, on Feb. 8, 1932. She entered the Marist congregation in 1952, received the name Sister Mary Gerarda and was professed in Bedford, Mass., on Aug. 15, 1954.

She came to Hawaii on Aug. 1, 1956, joining the convent community at the seminary whose main task was to cook for the more than 60 faculty and high school and college seminarians who boarded there. She served in Hawaii until Oct. 2, 1968.

In the years following her Hawaii assignment, she served as assistant provincial of the Marist Sisters, and also served in Bangladesh, Australia, Massachusetts, Samoa and Iowa. Her final mission was in Rocky Creek.

Her body was cremated and a memorial Mass in thanksgiving for her life was celebrated at Rocky Creek on Dec. 27. A second memorial Mass was celebrated for Sister Gerarda in Waltham, Mass, on Jan. l0, followed by the burial of her cremains.