Sister Lorraine Pratt died peacefully at Resurrection Life Center on August 31, 2017. She was 90 years old and a vowed member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame for 71 years. Sister Lorraine ministered as a teacher and administrator for 44 years at St. Anne, St. James and St. Roalie Convent in Illinois and at St. Mary and St. Elizabeth in Wisconsin. She also served as pastoral associate and compassionate minister for 22 years at St. Anne in Dixon, Illinois.
Lorraine Pratt was born on September 24, 1927, to Barbara Cecilia Gilles and Charles Elmer Pratt of Kickapoo, Illinois, seventh of their eight children. She was baptized at St. Mary Church in Kickapoo and attended grade school at the parish school, where SSND was in charge.
When Lorraine was only six years old, her mother died, leaving the younger children to their father and their “second mother,” their 13-year-old sister.When Lorraine was almost 16 years old, in September of 1943, she entered the candidature in Milwaukee, reluctantly persuaded by an “overwhelming grace” of the Blessed Mother, along with the example of her cousin, Sister Zita. She was received into the novitiate, with the name Sister Mary Pietra, in August of 1945, and pronounced her first vows on August 11, 1946.
Shortly after her first profession, Sister Pietra was missioned to St. Elisabeth, Milwaukee, where she remained as a teacher of second, third and fourth grades for sixteen years. Sister Pietra taught at St. Mary, Burlington, Wisconsin and at St. Rosalie, Harwood Heights, Illinois. She served as principal at St. James, Belvidere and St. Anne, Dixon, both in Illinois, until 1990.
Sister Lorraine earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, in 1954, and a Master of Arts in Special Education from Northeastern Illinois University in 1974. She began a program for the Rockford, Illinois, Diocese for developmentally disabled children, and also volunteered at the Jack Mabley Center for the Deaf and Blind as parish minister. She had a special love for people with disabilities and knew how to touch their hearts.
In 1990, Sister Lorraine served as pastoral associate and compassionate minister at St. Anne, Dixon, until retiring in 2005. In her 34 years at St. Anne in Dixon, Illinois, Sister Lorraine was well-known and well-loved in the parish and the town. In 1998, the “Sauk Valley Sunday” edition featured an article on Sister Lorraine and her companion of many years, Sister Marcianne Bzdon. One photograph showed the two of them making themselves a pancake dinner, using a recipe Sister Marcianne learned from her mother, who used to make the pancakes during the Lenten season.
Sister Lorraine moved to Resurrection Life Center in 2012. Visitation was held at Resurrection Life Center, Chicago, and then at Mater Christi Church, North Riverside, on September 11. The Wake service and Mass of Christian Burial were held that evening, and interment took place at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Alsip, on September 12.
Memorial contributions may be made to the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Atlantic Midwest Province, c/o Development Office, 345 Belden Hill Road, Wilton, Conn. 06897 or online: www.amssnd.org
