- February 17, 2020 Obituaries
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Sister Teresa John Zilch, CSJ who passed away on February 15 at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, Missouri. She was 91 years of age.
Sister Teresa, baptized Erma Antonia, was born on December 14, 1928, in Peoria, Illinois, to parents August and Teresa M. (Wissel) Zilch. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1946 and was received into the novitiate in 1947. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Avila College in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1963 and a master’s degree in elementary education administration from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in 1971.
Sister Teresa dedicated 30 years to the ministry of education.
She began her ministry at Assumption Grade School in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1949.
In the 1950s, she taught at Sacred Heart in Muskogee, Oklahoma; St. Francis de Sales in Denver, Colorado; and St. Mary Cathedral in Peoria, Illinois.
In the 1960s, she taught at Sts. Mary and Joseph in St. Louis; St. Mary’s in Bridgeton, Missouri, and Our Lady of the Americas in Kansas City, Missouri, where she also served as administrator.
In 1969, she taught at Most Holy Rosary in St. Louis and continued teaching throughout the 1970s at St. Thomas the Apostle in Florissant, Missouri; Holy Cross in Champaign, Illinois; and Sacred Heart in L’Anse, Michigan. She also served as administrator at both Holy Cross and Sacred Heart.
Beginning in 1979, Sister Teresa held various positions with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet at the St. Joseph Provincial House including data controller/processor and provincilate secretary.
In 1988, she was an administrative assistant for the U.S.C.C. Commission on Certification and Accreditation in St. Louis. She continued serving as an administrative and executive assistant in St. Louis at Mary Queen and Mother Center for Cardinal Ritter Senior Services, Nazareth Living Center and in Kansas City at Carondelet Health Corporation and St. Joseph Hospital. She also served in pastoral care at St. Joseph’s.
In the late 1990s, she was a secretary and media clerk in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri as well. She served as a parish secretary at Ward Parkway Presbyterian Church. She was a secretary at St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf, a satellite location, in Kansas City, Kansas.
Sister Teresa retired in 1999, but continued in volunteer ministry at the Avila College library in Kansas City until 2002.
Since 2002, Sister Teresa resided at Nazareth Living Center where she continued to carry out her ministry of prayer and presence.
Sister Teresa John Zlich, CSJ donated her body to science. Her memorial mass will at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, February 19 at the Nazareth Living Center, located at 2 Nazareth Lane, St. Louis, MO 63129.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province, 6400 Minnesota Ave., St. Louis, MO 63111-2899. Donate online.