A memorial Mass for Sister Teresa Reichmuth was celebrated Jan. 3 at St. Joseph Chapel in O'Fallon. Sister Teresa, a Sister of the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon, died Dec. 24. She was 79.

The second of six daughters of Joseph and Othelia Reichmuth, Sister Teresa was born in 1938. She entered the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood as a postulant in 1953 at the age of 15 and professed first vows in 1956. She was given the name Sister Mary Meinrad.

For many years, Sister Teresa served on the food services staff at the motherhouse and St. Elizabeth Academy. She also was a homemaker at St. Henry in Charleston, Mo., St. Joseph in Omaha, Neb., and Sacred Heart in Florissant. In 1982, Sister Teresa earned an associate's degree in applied science from Belleville Area College and began ministering as a physical therapy assistant at the sisters' Motherhouse Retirement Center. In 1986, she received a license in creation spirituality from Holy Names College in Oakland, Calif. She remained in Oakland until 1989, continuing her physical therapy work there. Upon returning to Missouri, Sister Teresa ministered again at the Motherhouse Retirement Center, offering physical therapy and foot care.

Sister Teresa had a great passion for the earth, and requested cremation as her way of returning to the earth.