It is with Great Sadness We Share the News of the Passing of Sister Laura Marie Meskill, RSM
Oct
21
2021
Sister Laura Marie Meskill started as a Mercy High School teacher in 1964 and retired in June of 2002. For nearly four decades, Sister encountered more than 6,000 students. Sister Laura Marie made it a point to know and welcome every student who walked through the doors of Mercy High School and had a significant impact on each one of them.
Sister Laura was truly a daughter of Catherine McAuley. She approached her students with patience and gentle kindness. She was helpful inside and outside of the classroom, in the guidance department and served as a spiritual role model for all. She did a wonderful job to explore new opportunities for young women and would do anything to help them attain their goals. Sister had a special place in her heart for Mercy girls to guide them along the way to success and happiness. She had a graceful way of dealing with young girls. She respected them, and she expected high standards. She was accommodating, supportive beyond measure, and so confident in the ability of her students. She put the Mercy Guidance Department on the map. She set the standards high and felt Mercy girls deserved the best.
She was a generous, faithful, committed woman of God, whose good deeds can only be imagined. She truly lived out the life she professed, and will be deeply missed by all those who knew her.
Sister Laura Marie Meskill, RSM
Retired Mercy Faculty from 1964-2002
“I vow and promise to God poverty, chastity, and obedience and the service of the poor, the sick and the uneducated until my death.”
Sister Laura Marie Meskill, expressed contentment in fulfilling her vows taken as a Sister of Mercy.
Sister Laura Marie Meskill died peacefully on October 16, 2021 in the Baggot Street Community at Saint Mary Home. The daughter of Thomas and Laura (Warren) Meskill, she was born on August 23, 1926 in Bridgeport, CT.
From the time Sister Laura Marie met the Sisters of Mercy as a fourth grader in St. Mary School, New Britain, until her final days at Saint Mary Home, she embraced and radiated a life of Mercy. Following graduation from Mount Saint Joseph Academy as Valedictorian of the Class of 1944, she continued her journey of Mercy at the University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford and entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1946, professing her final vows on January 2, 1952.
Sister Laura Marie received her BA in Education (1959) and MA in English (1964) from the University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford, and an MA in Guidance from Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT (1974).
Throughout the years her ministries called her to serve as instructor, teacher, counselor and administrator followed by decades of service as a pastoral associate in St. Mary Parish, Portland, CT with her longtime friend, Sister Mary Ida Dolan.
A gifted woman, Sister Laura Marie brought hope and kindness into the lives of people of all ages. Her thirty-eight year tenure at Mercy High School, Middletown, earned her recognition from the alumnae as one of the most influential individuals in their lives. From college selection to geometric problems to counselling, she was always present and ready to share her wisdom as she continued to cherish each year even when her eyesight and hearing were limited. “No” and “I can’t help you” were not in her vocabulary.
Following Sister Mary Ida’s death, Sister Laura Marie continued her compassionate presence at Saint Mary Home.
Predeceased by her parents, her brother former Governor Thomas J. Meskill and his wife, Mary (Grady), Sister Laura Marie is survived by her sister Ruth Prior of Naples, Florida, and many loving cousins, nieces and nephews. She will be greatly missed by her Mercy Community and the residents of the Baggot Street Community.
The Sisters of Mercy are grateful to the staff at Saint Mary Home for their compassionate, loving care of Sister Laura Marie Meskill.
Sister Laura Marie’s Funeral Mass and wake will be held on Friday, October 22, at Saint Mark the Evangelist Church, 467 South Quaker Lane, West Hartford.
Wearing masks is required at all services.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 2 p.m. by her grand-nephew, Father Samuel Kachuba, preceded by the wake from noon to 2 p.m.
Burial will follow Mass in Saint Mary Cemetery, 2021 Albany Avenue, West Hartford.
Please consider donations in memory of Sister Laura Marie Meskill to the following:
25 Prescott Street, 1st Floor, West Hartford, CT. 06119-2335.
Established in 2006 in honor of Sister Laura Marie Meskill marking her 60th anniversary as a Sister of Mercy. This scholarship continues to provide tuition assistance to young women who want to attend Mercy High School.
Online condolences may be made at www.SheehanHilbornBreen.com