A teacher for 56 years, Sister Edwina Hester, a Sister of St. Joseph, died at the congregation’s motherhouse on March 26, 2007. She would have been 100 years old in September 2007.
Sister Hester joined the congregation in 1927 from St. Aloysius Parish in Auburn. She earned bachelor’s degrees in English and history from Nazareth College and her master’s degree in English from St. Bonaventure University.
She taught for 33 years in the elementary schools of Corpus Christi, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine and Blessed Sacrament in Rochester; St. Joseph, Wayland; and St. Anthony, Elmira. She then taught religion and English for 23 years at Nazareth Academy, followed by service in the school’s English Resource Center and as a testing moderator and library assistant. She retired in 2003.
Sister Hester is survived by her nephew, John O’Donnell; her nieces, Patricia Rice, Mary Lou (Edward) Leibig, Joann (Russell) Heuer and Margaret (William) Palombella; grandnieces and nephews; and her sisters in the congregation.
Her funeral liturgy was celebrated in the motherhouse chapel on March 29, 2007, with burial in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Sisters of St. Joseph Ministry Fund, 150 French Road, Rochester NY 14618.
