Age 89
Sister Loretta Thul was a Sister of Mercy for 63 years. She attended St. John Elementary in Clarion, Iowa, and graduated from Clarion High, in Clarion, Iowa, in 1951. After high school, Sister Loretta started her career as a Licensed Practical Nurse. She completed a program at St. Thomas Mercy Hospital in Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1953. She entered the Cedar Rapids Regional Community of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas in 1959.
Sister Loretta earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1971. She continued her education in Pastoral Care at Mount St. Joseph College in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1988.
From 1962 to 1978, she taught in the following parochial schools: St. Matthews, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Sacred Heart, Waterloo, Iowa; Immaculate Conception, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; St. Patrick’s, Garryowen, Iowa; St. Benedict’s, Decorah, Iowa; and St. John’s, Waterloo, Iowa. She worked as a driver and coordinator of maintenance and housekeeping at Sacred Heart Convent from 1978–1986. She worked in Pastoral Care as a Chaplain at Mercy Hospital – Anderson in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1988–2003.
Upon her retirement, Sister Loretta returned to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She was an active volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul and Mercy Medical Center. Sister Loretta was known for her love of gardening and her kind heart.