Age 89
A life-long lover of German language and culture, Sister Marlene was thrilled to have the opportunity to travel to Germany when she received a Fulbright summer scholarship and lived in Munich, Ansbach, and Osnabruck.
Entering the novitiate in Watchung, New Jersey in 1953 at the age of 19, Sister Marlene credited the roots of her vocation to her devoted parents, Carl and Klara Schuehle, and the Sisters of Mercy she met as teachers at Our Lady of Victories School in Sayreville, New Jersey, and the now closed St. Mary High School in South Amboy, New Jersey.
She attended Georgian Court College (now University),in Lakewood, New Jersey where she earned a bachelor’s degree in German studies and Middlebury German School in Vermont, where she earned a master’s degree in its rigorous German immersion program.
After teaching German in high schools for 16 years in the Camden and Trenton dioceses, she had the joy of returning to Germany for one year to teach English at an all-boys school in Dortmund, Germany. She resumed her German teaching career at St. Mary High School, South Amboy, Mount Saint Mary Academy, Watchung, and Union Catholic High School, Scotch Plains, all in New Jersey.
In 1983, Sister Marlene took courses in school administration at the University of Texas, and taught German at an all-girls school while living in San Antonio. Upon her return to New Jersey, Sister Marlene served as assistant directress at Mount Saint Mary Academy, Watchung; and assistant principal at Marylawn of the Oranges Academy, South Orange.
Next, Sister Marlene served as a clinical supervisor at Seton Hall University, South Orange and then associate director for the development office in New Jersey of the former Mid-Atlantic Community. She also volunteered for the Somerset County Library system as a teacher of German for adults. In 2021, Sister Marlene became a permanent resident of McAuley Hall Health Care Center, Watchung, NJ, where she resided until her death.