Sister Clarella was teacher, musician in Omaha archdiocese

Sister Clarella Werth, who served 36 of her 83 years of religious life in the Omaha archdiocese, died March 9 at Sacred Heart retirement and health care center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was 101.

A funeral Mass was celebrated March 17 at her community’s St. Joseph Chapel followed by a private burial service at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, both in Milwaukee.

Sister Clarella entered religious life with the School Sisters of St. Francis in 1939. She professed first vows in 1941 and final vows in 1947. 

Beginning in 1941, Sister Clarella served as a teacher and organist at schools and parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago, and the dioceses of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana; Joliet, Illinois; Sioux City, Iowa; and Milwaukee. 

 In the Archdiocese of Omaha, she served as teacher and organist at St. Joseph Parish and the former parish school in Pierce from 1955 to 1957, and at Ss. Peter and Paul Parish and the former parish school in Butte from 1963 to 1967.

She also served as a teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Omaha from 1971 to 1992, as a tutor from 1992 to 1993, and as a support staff volunteer from 1993 until her retirement in 2001.

In retirement, Sister Clarella served in the ministry of prayer and presence at St. Joseph Convent in Campbellsport, Wisconsin, from 2002 to 2013, and at Sacred Heart in Milwaukee since 2013.