Despite being stern, sister’s students ‘knew she loved them’
Humble and soft-spoken, Sister Louise Marie Simcoe could be a strict teacher at times, but she always got her point across through love.
“Her kids loved her and they knew she loved them,” said Sister Janice Campbell, Sister Louise Marie’s closest friend for 25 years.
A first-grade teacher at various Catholic schools for 27 years, Sister Louise Marie died March 30 after a long battle with early-onset dementia. She was 71.
Sister Janice was with her at her Oakmont residence when she died.
“She forgot some people, but she always remembered me,” Sister Janice said. “I was thankful for that.”
Sister Louise Marie was born Anne Therese Simcoe, the daughter of the late Andrew and Anne Therese Kudraz Simcoe.
She grew up in Oakland and graduated from the former St. Casimir High School on the South Side in 1964. Just three months after graduation, at age 17, she joined the Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God in Castle Shannon, where she took orders.
“I think she thought about [becoming a nun] especially when she was in high school,” Sister Janice
said, experience taught “She and teacher.” Sister loved she recalling La at Louise wanted Roche her their with high her gentle College nuns Marie to friend’s school. ways be who for attended a two to where Duquesne years, degree she then earned in education University, transferred a bachelor’s in the schools She 1970s. taught in several at elementary states during “Our her early community career. of sisters was in seven different states,” Sister Janice said. “She only learned to drive when she taught in New Jersey. I think she was in her late 30s or maybe 40.” She also taught at St. Valentine School in Bethel Park several times before landing at James L. Lavelle Catholic School in West Mifflin in 1986, where she spent 10 years as a first-grade teacher.
“She was an excellent teacher,” said Cathy Ratay, who worked with Sister Louise Marie at the Lavelle school. “Her kids loved her. She was very personable, very friendly and very helpful.”
As a new teacher, Ms. Ratay said she could count on Sister Louise Marie for advice whenever she needed it.
“It was my first real teaching job,” she said. “When I would get stuck, I’d ask her questions.”
The image of a strict nun cracking a ruler wasn’t Sister Louise Marie, Ms. Ratay said.
“She could be stern, but she wasn’t mean,” Ms. Ratay recalled. “The kids always came back to see her and say hi.”
Ms. Ratay said she would remember Sister Louise Marie’s kindness in other ways, too, including during the blizzard of March 1993, when Sister Louise Marie tried to help Ms. Ratay push her Camaro out of the snow.
“She was out there in her little boots trying to help me, but it didn’t work and the car stayed there,” Ms. Ratay said.
Sister Louise Marie retired from teaching after her stint at the Lavelle school and went on to serve as assistant director of the Franciscan Child Day Care Center from 1996-1998 at the Sisters of St. Francis. The Lavelle school closed in 2005.
She also worked for six years as pastoral minister for St. Joseph Parish in O’Hara and at St. Juan Diego parish in Sharpsburg, visiting the sick, planning funerals and helping families. She served as a liaison to the board of the St. Casimir High School Alumni Association.
Sister Janice said Sister Louise Marie would want to be remembered for her love of humanity.
“She loved children; she loved all people, if I’m being honest,” Sister Janice said. “And she had a special love for the elderly. She was gentle, kind and thoughtful. She was just simple folk. She didn’t put on any airs.”
Sister Janice said she will miss her friend’s smile most of all.
“She had a wonderful smile, and it was genuine,” she said.
Sister Louise Marie is survived by her sister, Louise Kaiser, of the Cowansville area of Armstrong County.
Memorial donations may be made to the Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God, 3757 Library Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15234.