Date of death: 8/30/2006
Saint Meinrad Class: SS 1974
Sister St. William (Sister Willie), 84, died at St. Joseph’s Manor, Meadowbrook, PA, in the 65th year of her religious life. A life-long elementary school teacher and Religious Education Coordinator, her 25 years of ministry in the Buffalo area included Holy Angels School and Academy, St. Rose of Lima School and St. Monica’s parish in Buffalo and St. James in Depew. She received the Philadelphia Archdiocese St. John Neumann Award (1977) and the Pius X Award (1986). After retirement in 1990 she staffed the library at Holy Angels Academy, and was a member of the St. Rose of Lima Parish Choir and Legion of Mary. In these later years she visited the sick and elderly and was a comfort to grieving families at the death of a loved one. In March 2003, Bishop Henry Mansell appointed her as Spiritual Director for the Buffalo Curia of the Diocesan Legion of Mary. A Buffalo native, Sister St. William graduated from Holy Angels Academy and D’Youville College; she received a Master’s degree in Religious Education from Saint Meinrad School of Theology, St. Meinrad, IN. Ministry assignments also took her to Jackson Heights and Ogdensburg, NY; Strafford and King of Prussia, PA and Atlanta, GA. She held permanent teaching certificates in New York and Georgia and was a certified CCD Coordinator in Buffalo and Atlanta. Always ready to explore the unknown, Sister St. William was happy with the changes to religious life after Vatican II, and was active in the Sisters Senate in Buffalo for many years. In 2004 she retired to the Grey Nun Motherhouse, moving later to St. Joseph Manor, where she continued her ministry of prayer. One of two daughters of the late William and Delia Dolan Hoffman, and baptized Mary Elizabeth, she is predeceased by her sister, Patricia O’Hara. In addition to her religious congregation she is survived by many loving nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.Memorial donations may be made to the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart.Information obtained from the Western New York Catholic.