Longtime diocesan employee Louise Theisen dedicated life to serving church

Louise Theisen, a longtime employee of the St. Cloud Diocese, died Jan. 29 at the age of 92 at the St. Cloud Hospital. Two Masses of Christian Burial are planned.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, at St. Peter Church, St. Cloud, with her brother Benedictine Father Wilfred Theisen and Fathers Robert Rolfes and LeRoy Scheierl concelebrating.

A second Mass of Christian Burial will be 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 3, at St. Ann Church, Wadena, with Fathers  Theisen and Aaron Kuhn officiating. Burial will follow at Calvary Cemetery in Wadena.

Visitation will be held one hour prior to services at both churches. Arrangements are with Daniel Funeral Home, St. Cloud.

“Louise was a woman of strength and character,” said her second cousin Benedictine Sister Rita Budig, a member of the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict in St. Joseph. “There are two words that describe her — generous and positive. She related to others in a quiet and approachable manner. I always left her feeling uplifted! Nothing seemed too much for her. I visited her a few hours before she died, and as always, Louise was reflecting on what was meaningful in her life and what dreams might still be possible.”

Louise Evelyn Theisen was born in Wadena, April 28, 1924, to Elizabeth (Tabery) and John F. Theisen. She attended St. Ann’s Grade School in Wadena, Wadena High School, the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, and St. Cloud State University, graduating with a degree in elementary education.

Theisen taught in Annandale, Melrose, Bluffton, Holdingford and St. Mary’s Cathedral Grade School in St. Cloud. She worked in parishes for over 40 years for Father Robert Voigt as a housekeeper, parish secretary, religious education coordinator and CCD teacher and adult and youth choir director in parishes in Bluffton, Pierz, St. Anna, Arban, St. Cloud (Holy Angels) and Opole. Following retirement from these roles she worked as archivist for the Diocese of St. Cloud for 25 years. She was awarded the Bishop’s Medal of Merit for service to the diocese in 1981.

A St. Cloud resident, she was a member of St. Peter Parish in St. Cloud, an oblate of St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, member of the Serra Club St. Cloud, serving as secretary for many years, Holy Angels prayer group and music ministry, Daughters of Isabella, Women’s Catholic Order of Foresters, St. Stephen’s Mission Group, St. Barbara’s Mission Group, Legion of Mary, St. Peter’s Worship Committee, Christian Women of St. Peter’s, St. Peter’s Choir, St. Benedict’s Senior Community Fund Committee, St. Cloud Area Genealogists, Stearns History Museum in St. Cloud, Oral History Association of Minnesota, Retired Educators of St. Cloud and Minnesota, Association of Catholic Diocesan Archivists and the Midwest Archives Conference.

Theisen volunteered for St. Benedict’s Monastery, St. Cloud Hospital and the CentraCare Health Foundation in St. Cloud. In 2011 she received the Robert Speeter Award from Serra International.

She is survived by her brothers, Maryknoll Father Eugene, Maryknoll, New York; Benedictine Father Wilfred, Collegeville and Lyle (Marilyn), Baltimore, Maryland. She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Benedictine Sister Vivia; brothers, James, Jerome, Clair and John; grandniece, Haley Pettit; and sisters-in-law, Betty Rohr Theisen and Marge Marczak Theisen.

Memorials are preferred to St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, or St. Benedict’s Monastery.

Author: The Visitor

The Visitor is the official newpaper for the Diocese of Saint Cloud.

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