Winifred Adelsberger, CSJ
January 23, 1925 - May 13, 2025
Generous and humble with a beautiful smile
Stephen and Winifred (O’Neill) Adelsberger of St. Louis welcomed their daughter on January 23, 1925. They named her Mary Winifred. She attended Nativity Grade School and Rosati-Kain High School. When she finished her schooling, she decided to enter the Sisters of St. Joseph. In September of 1941, “I entered religious life because I wanted something more. I called it a personal relationship with God.”
In 1942, she received the name Sister Mary Leander. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Latin from Fontbonne College in 1955 and a master’s degree in Latin from St. Louis University in 1964.
Sister Winifred's ministry in education began in March of 1944. She taught primary for the last few months of the school year at Holy Rosary Grade School in St. Louis. In September of that year, she was missioned to St. Louis Cathedral Grade School. In 1949, Sister Winifred moved into teaching intermediate students at St. Patrick’s in Rolla, Missouri. This was followed by St. Edward’s in St. Louis (1952) and Sacred Heart in Muskogee, Oklahoma (1955).
In 1956, Sister Winifred was finally able to use her Latin degree, teaching at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Florissant, Missouri. Then, in 1957, she was assigned to Little Flower High in Chicago. Returning to Missouri in 1963, she taught at Redemptorist High in Kansas City, Missouri, followed by St. Anthony High School in St. Louis.
From 1966 to 1971, Sister Winifred was a teacher and assistant administrator at St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Louis. She then returned to St. Thomas Aquinas as administrator and principal.
Her ministry changed in 1983, when she joined the Catholic Education Office in the Archdiocese of St. Louis as the coordinator of school data services. The advent of computer scheduling at that time moved Archdiocesan high schools into the more modern era. Though she loved teaching, she “enjoyed 20-plus years of administration also, because I love to organize, and start an idea and see it through to fruition. Sometimes, I drive people crazy because of my over-organization."
Sister Winifred could next be found ministering at the St. Joseph Generalate in 1986, having accepted the ministry of administrative assistant, which she continued for the next 15 years until retiring in 2002. “My years at the Generalate were very wonderful years, very inspiring years. ... it was just a joy."
Sister Winifred’s retirement was very active since she continued as a volunteer at St. Joseph’s Academy for many years. In 2019, she moved to Nazareth Living Center where she carried out her mission of prayer and presence.
In January 2025, Sister Winifred celebrated her 100th birthday with friends and fellow sisters at Nazareth Living Center. Reflecting on her century of life, she acknowledged both the joys and difficulties with characteristic thoughtfulness, “It’s been a wonderful 100 years. There have been some hardships — I don’t think I would change them because every life has to have something.”
By Sister Helen Oates