M Lucile Legierski

Mankato Mortuary
507-388-2202

Our beloved Sister Lucile Legierski, 93, died peacefully at 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday, September 20, 2011, in Notre Dame Health Care, Good Counsel Campus, Mankato, Minnesota. Her sisters Cecilia Legierski and Juliana Cihunka, nephews Tom and John Legierski, and Sisters Janet Wermerskirchen and Daniel Marie Kukowski were with her when she died. During the daily liturgy held shortly after her death, sisters prayed "Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord," as the responsorial psalm response " a response that very fittingly described Sister Lucile's final journey.

The funeral Mass for Sister Lucile, with Father Andrew Olsem as presider, will be at 10:30 a.m., Friday, September 23, in Good Counsel Chapel, followed by burial in our cemetery. The vigil service will be at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 22. Loving sympathy to her sisters Cecilia, Juliana and Mildred Anderson, her nieces and nephews and their families, and her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Lucy (Biernat) Legierski, her sisters Johanna Bichard and Rose Wroz, and her brothers, John and Joseph (who died shortly after birth).

Sister Lucile, the second of eight children, was born February 7, 1918, in Minneapolis, and baptized Helen Agnes at Holy Cross Church. Both her parents, John and Lucy, had been born in Poland and they met in Minneapolis. Her father was employed as a mechanic and her mother was a homemaker.

In a brief autobiography, Sister Lucile wrote that, at the age of seven, she began her education at St. Philip's School in northeast Minneapolis, where she was taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Helen must have been impressed by her teachers because the next sentence in her autobiography states, "When I was in the eighth grade, I made my vocation known to my parents." After completing eighth grade, however, she stayed home a few years and helped support the family by working as a waitress.

In 1934, at the age of sixteen, Helen entered the candidature, but did not stay at that time. She re-entered in 1939 and was received into the novitiate on July 16, 1940, and given the name Sister M. Lucile, after her mother. Following profession of vows in 1941, she remained at Good Counsel and worked as a refectorian until 1947. In 1947, her recipe, Quick Potato Pancakes, was published in the SSND Centenary Cookbook. She continued in general community service at Good Counsel until 1949, when she began home service work at St. Francis de Sales, St. Paul.
In the succeeding years, Sister Lucile served at several missions including St. Martin, Rogers; St. Mary, New Haven, Iowa; St. Leo, St. Leo; Sacred Heart, St. Paul; St. Michael, St. Michael; Crucifixion, La Crescent; St. John, Mankato; John Ireland, St. Peter; and St. Mary, Marystown. In the mid-1960's, she added another ministry to her home service " the ministry of teaching remedial reading and working in the school library " at St. Pius, North Dakota; Sacred Heart, Heron Lake; and Crucifixion, La Crescent. During these years, she completed several college courses, especially in the area of reading. She loved her students and really enjoyed teaching reading.

In late 1974, while serving at La Crescent, Sister Lucile entered a jingle contest sponsored by the Shasta Beverage Company. Her jingle, one of 100 national winners, earned her a seven-minute shopping spree at her local grocery store. The La Crosse Tribune provided full coverage of the February 4, 1975, event. Shasta set a $300 limit, and Sister Lucile was worried that she might not be able to reach that amount. Because she knew the store's layout, she planned her route and, in less than one minute, she filled her first cart with meat and unloaded it at the checkout. When the seven minutes were up, Sister Lucile had accumulated $670 worth of groceries (but could only keep $300 worth). Shasta did not publish the winning jingles, and Sister Lucile did not keep a copy.

Sister Lucile's final mission experience was St. Andrew, St. Paul (1976-77). In 1977, she returned to Good Counsel and provided community service in a variety of areas until she retired in 1994.

Sister Lucile looked forward to visits from her family and enjoyed spending time at her sisters' homes. For several years, she and Sister Mary Patience Hora stayed with Sister Lucile's sister in Minneapolis and made an annual trek to the Minnesota State Fair. Sister Lucile was immensely proud of her Polish and "Nordeast" Minneapolis heritage. She loved to sing and had an excellent singing voice. Her early-morning cup of coffee started each day, and she was also known as a chocolate-lover.

Her last few years were spent in Notre Dame Health Care, where she endeared herself to the nursing staff. Nursing assistants were happy to know that Sister Lucile would be one of their patients and she often expressed her gratitude for the help given to her. One of her favorite places in Notre Dame Hall was the aviary.

Sister Lucile's favorite prayer was the rosary, which she prayed several times each day. She concluded her autobiography with this sentence, "My life has been dedicated to the service of Jesus." Having just celebrated her Jubilee of seventy years as a School Sister of Notre Dame, may Sister Lucile now be fully experiencing what eye could not see nor the human heart conceive " that which God has prepared for those who love him.