Saturday, January 14th, 2017
Sister Mary Ellen Andrisin
A memorial Mass for Precious Blood Sister Mary Ellen Andrisin will be held at the Salem Heights chapel, 4960 Salem Ave., Dayton, Ohio, on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017, at 10:30 a.m. Sharing of memories will be at the chapel at 10 a.m. immediately preceding the Mass. Sister died at the Maria-Joseph Center in Dayton on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. Mary Ellen, 80, had been a Sister of the Precious Blood for 63 years.
The oldest of four children, Mary Ellen was born on April 29, 1936, to John J. and Genevieve (Razdrh Bradley) Andrisin in Cleveland, Ohio. On Jan. 31, 1954, at the age of 17 she formally entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. In religious life she was given the name Sister Mary de Montfort and later returned to using her baptismal name. "I am filled," said Sister Mary Ellen, "with gratitude to my Sisters for the rich experience of living and ministering with them in diverse ways."
Mary Ellen's active ministry from 1956 to 1976 was mainly science education, being a teacher of middle school, junior high and high school students. She taught in Saint Joseph, Missouri; in Wapakoneta, Cincinnati, and Celina, Ohio; in Fort Wayne, Indiana; and in Strasburg and Linton, North Dakota. Later on Sister was the director of religious education in Independence, Ohio, and ministered in pastoral care at the Maria-Joseph Center, Dayton, and Saint Mary Parish in Wooster, Ohio. As director of resident life she ministered for nine years to her religious Sisters at their retirement center, Salem Heights in Dayton. She was an associate at the Sorrowful Mother Shrine in Bellevue, Ohio, and ministered at the Maria Stein Center, Maria Stein, Ohio, coordinating events and hospitality. "It is a joy," said Sister, "to extend hospitality to many diverse people. Sharing faith and prayer with them is a blessing."
She joined her Sisters in retirement at Salem Heights in 2016 and later, because of deteriorating health, moved to the Maria-Joseph Center. In her life she "continued to experience God's overwhelmingly abundant love, embodied in the Precious Blood."
Sister Mary Ellen is survived by her Precious Blood Community of Sisters, her brother John (Sharon) Andrisin, her sisters Michele (Curt) Wittig and Danielle Hoffman (Jude Jones) and other relatives and friends.
