Sister Norma Loraditch, SSND
August 23, 1932 – February 26, 2025
Shirley (Norma) Ann Loraditch was born on August 23, 1932, in Cumberland, Maryland to Bernard Joseph Loraditch and Lucille Rose Broadwater. Her parents had six children, four girls and two boys, Mary, Bernard, Thomas, Norma, Shirley, and Barbara. The family were members of St. Patrick’s in Cumberland, Maryland where she attended elementary school. She is a graduate of Catholic Girl’s Central High School in Cumberland, Maryland.
Shirley was encouraged to consider a vocation in religious life by her family and teachers. She also credited her vocation to her devotion to the Blessed Mother, saying without it, “I would not have followed my vocation. Once I made up my mind, I knew I would never change it. The rest was left in God’s hands.”
Shirley’s cousin, Peggy Ann Russell, an SSND Associate, spoke at her wake service and reflected on her life. At 10 years old, Shirley contracted rheumatic fever. The illness required multiple hospital stays and a year of bed rest, and caused damage to her heart. When Shirley told everyone she was going to enter the convent, Peggy shared how her family thought she’d never last. Her family was so convinced she wouldn’t make it that they gave her the best Hope Chest, thinking she would come back and use it for her wedding. Shirley often thought this was the best support she could have gotten from her family because she was determined to prove them wrong.
On August 28, 1951, she was accepted as a candidate for the School Sisters of Notre Dame at St. Patrick’s in Cumberland. Three days later, she began her ministry as a teacher at St. Mark’s parish school in Catonsville, MD, where she taught second grade. Her next two placements were at Mt. Calvary in Forestville, MD, teaching third grade, and Notre Dame of Maryland Lower School, where she taught second grade. Over the course of her candidature, Shirley became ill several times. Looking back on this time of sickness, she was heard to say that she received great support and, “such care as you can only receive in a convent.” She was received into the novitiate on July 16, 1953, and professed first vows on July 29, 1954. After her first profession, Sister Norma returned to the same classroom at Notre Dame of Maryland where she had six happy years.
Sister Josephann Wagoner, SSND, spoke of how Norma remembered professing her Perpetual Vows on July 29, 1960 when speaking at Norma’s wake. She quoted Norma saying, “I think this fulfilled my fondest dream of becoming a School Sister of Notre Dame.”
Norma was often teased for her slowness, which was a result of her childhood illness. Her cousin, Peggy, said that Norma admitted she was slow; while she was physically slow, she was also “slow to complain, slow to become angry, slow to gossip, but she was very quick to compliment and praise people.”
From 1960 to 2001, Norma’s primary ministry was to serve as an elementary and junior high teacher, teaching at 8 different schools along the east coast. In addition to teaching at the Notre Dame of Maryland Lower School, she also taught at St. Joseph in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and St. Leo in Fairfax, Virginia. For many years, Norma lived in South and North Carolina, where she was an associate administrator and junior high teacher at St. John in North Charleston, SC and St. Gabriel in Greenville, NC.
Her last public ministry was at St. Martin’s House in Ridgley, Maryland, serving as Assistant to the Director and GED Teacher for Women in Transition from 2002 to 2010. St. Martin’s house is a family shelter, emergency food pantry, and thrift shop that provides homeless prevention services to those in need on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. In 2010, she began her ministry as seamstress, companion, and library aid at Villa Assumpta. “For over 70 years, Sister Norma answered her call to work and pray for her God and others,” said Josephann at the end of her reflection.
Norma was born into eternal life on February 26, 2025. She is survived by her sister, Barbara Havekost, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Her wake service and Mass of Christian Burial was held at Villa Assumpta in Baltimore, Maryland, celebrated by Father Lawrence Terrien, P.S.S. Norma chose to donate her body to the Maryland Anatomy Board. As a result, internment at Villa Maria Cemetery in Notch Cliff, Maryland, will take place at a later date.
Written by Lauren Ciotti
