SISTER MARY RESSEL

BENTON -- Funeral Mass for Sister Mary Anita Ressel, CPPS, of O'Fallon was held Feb. 21 in the Motherhouse Chapel in O'Fallon.

Ressel, 98, died Thursday, Feb. 17, 2000, at St. Catherine Retirement Center in O'Fallon.

She was born Leona Ressel Sept. 14, 1901, in rural Benton, daughter of Theodore E. and Mary Ann Diebold Ressel.

Ressel was raised in the Benton and Scott City areas, and was a member of St. Augustine Catholic Church at Kelso.

She became a candidate of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon in August 1921; entered the order in September 1922; and professed her first vows Aug. 10, 1924.

For 67 years Ressel's work was in the ecclesiastical art department of the Motherhouse, where she hand-stitched designs for various items. The last seven years of her ministry was prayer and presence.

Survivors include nieces, nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by two brothers.