Sister Mary Lenette Marcello SND(formerly Sister Mary Sherise)February 23, 1949-March 11, 2026Professed August 15, 1969
Lenette was the first of six children born to Leonard and Frances (Ludwick) Marcello in Warren, Ohio. Being three months premature, all her life Lenette struggled with poor eyesight and limited lung capacity. In the love of her wonderful, large family and her innumerable friends over the years, she thrived. The family belonged to St. James Parish where Lenette and her siblings attended school staffed by the Sisters of Notre Dame. She was not interested in athletics but preferred and found contentment and joy in reading and developing her gifts in language arts. As early as sixth grade, Lenette thought seriously about religious life. After eighth grade graduation, she was accepted as an aspirant and began classes at the new Notre Dame Academy in Chardon. As a senior, Lenette entered the novitiate as a postulant. At investment she received the name Sister Mary Sherise.
Sister Mary Lenette received a bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame College in English and French. High school students in Ohio, North Carolina and Florida loved her approach to teaching literature, language and scripture. Sister Mary Lenette earned a master’s degree at the French School of Middlebury College in Vermont. She accompanied student groups to Quebec, France and Spain. Sister also taught religion classes to primary level children at St. Helen Parish in Newbury, Ohio, and in Raleigh, North Carolina. She assisted with campus ministry at Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School. Sister loved teaching and her students loved her.
In 1999 Sister began a second ministry, putting her love for words and her organizational skills to a new use as administrative secretary to the provincial, a service she provided with grace and precision for twenty-six years. She worked tirelessly, usually behind the scenes, for the province and the congregation, supporting leadership in countless ways. No task was so big she wouldn’t try, nor so small that it did not demand utter care and respect for anyone who asked.
She spoke the language of beauty and comfort for many people she never met through her work with the Leprechaun Foundation, and as a member of St. Helen’s Prayer Shawl Ministry, bringing gifts of prayer and crocheting to those in need of healing and encouragement.
The Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Mary Lenette will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, March 20, 2026, at the Sisters of Notre Dame Center, 13000 Auburn Road, Chardon, OH. It will be live-streamed here. Visitation will be from 9:30 until Mass begins.
To make a donation in memory of Sister Lenette, please click here.
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