A funeral Mass was offered May 4 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg for Sister Sheila O’Friel, a Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul for 65 years. Sister Sheila died April 28 at Villa St. Michael in Emmitsburg, at age 89.
A native of Altoona, Pa., Sister Sheila entered the community from St. Joseph Parish in Emmitsburg in 1953. She served in the Archdiocese of Baltimore as a teacher at the former St. Joseph College in Emmitsburg, 1959-64; and twice as a docent at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 2004-05 and 2011. She taught at Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg, 1964-69. She also taught in Virginia, and served in various capacities, including several stints as local community superior, in California, Massachusetts and New York.
Sister Sheila earned her bachelor’s degree in Home Economics Education from Margaret Morrison College of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, in 1951, and her master’s degree in Home Economics from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., in 1952.
