Sister Mary Marcelle

March 12, 1919 - December 10, 2022

Sister Mary Marcelle (Frizzie), a Sister of the Holy Cross, passed away peacefully at the age of 103 at Saint Mary’s Convent, Notre Dame, Indiana, on December 10, 2022.

Frizzie was Sister Marcelle’s family name. Her family’s original surname was Foisy, but her FrenchCanadian father, Camile, upon arrival in the United States, legally changed his name to make it easier for Americans to pronounce. Sister Marcelle (Mary Margaret) was the second of four children. She was born on March 12, 1919, in Sylacauga, Alabama, where her father worked at a sawmill. His roots were in St. Jerome, Quebec, Canada, and her mother, Hazel Marie (Young) Frizzie, was from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Raised alongside her siblings, Garland (Veronica), Frances (Gerry Flaherty), and Theresa (Bill McDonnell), Sister Marcelle spent most of her life in northern California.

The family eventually settled in northern California and started their own lumber business, wintering near Woodland and summering in Susanville and Crescent Mills. It was in Woodland, at Holy Rosary Academy, where Sister Marcelle enrolled as a boarder and first met the Sisters of the Holy Cross. After graduation, she stayed longer to take commercial courses to help with the family business. She was proud of her parents, who had little formal education, but were successful. While working at the family mill, Sister Marcelle got sawdust in her hair, helping manufacture lumber by guiding the logs toward two huge blades that cut the timber and stacked it as lumber. She brought her physical stamina and strong faith to Saint Mary’s, Notre Dame, Indiana, when she entered the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1939.

As part of her 80 years as a sister of the Holy Cross, Sister Marcelle enjoyed “42 wonderful years in the classroom” teaching in elementary schools in

Arizona, California, Idaho, and Utah. When she retired from teaching at St. Matthew Elementary School in San Mateo, California, Sister Marcelle remained there in parish ministry for another 24 years as a master catechist, lector, and Eucharistic minister visiting the sick. Following her time at St. Matthew’s, she lived with other retired sisters at Saint Catherine by the Sea in Ventura, California, and lastly at Saint Mary’s Convent from 2011 until her death.

Sister Marcelle was a distant relative of Brother André Bessette, CSC, through the Foisy line in the family tree. Sister’s father was a second cousin once removed. Isaac Bessette, the father of the humble Holy Cross brother, had been a “lumberman.” She was proud to have attended the 1982 beatification in Rome of the “Miracle Man of Montreal,” renowned for his intercession for the sick in the name of Saint Joseph. Saint André Bessette’s canonization followed in 2010. Though we miss her smile, Sister Marcelle now enjoys a special family reunion, which includes a saint.

Sister Marcelle, or Auntie Margie, as she was known by her numerous nieces, grand nieces, nephews, and grand nephews, will be forever remembered for her congenial spirit, quiet and steady support, imparting of wisdom, and her ever present camera which captured all family events lovingly. Donations in Sister Marcelle’s name can be made to the Sisters of the Holy Cross at https://www. cscsisters.org/donate/.