Aston, PA — Sister Alvera Staed, OSF, died in Assisi House on April 14. She was ninety-six years of age and had been a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for seventy-six years. Sister Alvera (Mabel Marie Staed) was born in Evansville, Indiana, but as a child moved to Chickasha, Oklahoma, where she graduated from St. Joseph Academy. She entered the congregation in 1928 and professed her first vows in 1931. Sister Alvera ministered in elementary education, as a teacher and as a caregiver of children in several boarding schools, and in domestic work. She was an excellent cook and seamstress and often made use of her skills to make clothing for the children in the boarding schools.

Sister Alvera served for thirty-four years in Oklahoma, twenty-seven of those years were at St. Joseph Academy in Chickasha (1938-1946, 1949-1968), where she herself had attended school as a child. She also ministered at St. Patrick School in Anadarko (1933-1935, 1946-1949) and St. Elizabeth Academy in Purcell (1935-1937).

Sister Alvera’s eighteen years of ministry in the Diocese of Wilmington included serving at St. Thomas School (1928-1929); St. Paul School (1930-1932); St. John School, Hockessin (1932-1933); Holy Angels Convent, Newark (1968-1972); and Padua Academy Convent (1972-1983).

Sister Alvera also ministered for nineteen years in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. She served first at Mt. St. Mary College in Emmitsburg (1937-1938). From 1983-2001 she ministered at St. Anthony Convent in Gardenville, first in domestic work and later in prayer ministry. In 2001 she moved to Assisi House in Aston, Pennsylvania, where she served in prayer ministry until her death.

All services will be held on Wednesday, April 18 at Assisi House, 600 Red Hill Road in Aston, Pennsylvania. Wake Service will be held at 9:30 A.M. followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at 11 A.M. Burial will be in Our Lady of Angels Cemetery. Sister Alvera is survived by her brother, George Staed, of Lexington, Kentucky; nieces and nephews, and by her Franciscan family. Donations in her name can be made to Franciscan Ministries Foundation, 609 S. Convent Road, Aston, PA 19014 cialis otc.