Sr. SheaA funeral Mass for Sister Dolores Shea was celebrated Sept. 4 at the School Sisters of Notre Dame Theresa Center chapel in south St. Louis County. Sister Dolores, 88, died Aug. 31 at Elizabeth House at The Sarah Community in Bridgeton. She was a longtime teacher, music director and pastoral minister.
Sister Dolores was born in 1931 in St. Louis, the second of three children to Joseph and Margaret (Niehaus) Shea. She professed first vows on Aug. 2, 1954, and final vows on Aug. 2, 1960. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the former Notre Dame College in St. Louis in 1960, and a master’s degree in education from Saint Louis University in 1968.
During her 65 years as a vowed religious, Sister Dolores served in a variety of ministries. She was an elementary educator for 27 years, an organist and director of the children’s choir for 16 years, and a pastoral minister for 11 years, while serving as the director of religious education for four years. Later she became a tutor for seven years and a driver for retired sisters at Villa Gesu for two years. She visited the sick and infirm and cared for the elderly in their homes through the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Care Ministries program for five years; and volunteered at de Greeff Hospice House at St. Anthony’s Medical Center for six years.
Sister Dolores is survived by a brother, Donald Shea. Burial was in Sancta Maria in Ripa Cemetery in south St. Louis County.