Sister Laurice Heybl's Story & Gallery
Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Laurice Heybl was born in 1930 and grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin. Sister Laurice attended St. Mary’s School and was taught by the FSPAs. She remembers feeling great support from the sisters early in life. She entered St. Rose Convent in 1954 at the age of 23. Sister Laurice professed her vows in 1956 and made her final vows in 1962. In her early years of religious life she writes in her autobiography that, “she remembers feeling like she made the right choice but found that following the rigid rules and stipulations regarding religious life, prayer schedule and personal development was difficult and confusing because of her energetic and creative spirit.” She graduated from Viterbo College in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a minor in art. Her preferred artistic medium was pottery.
She taught elementary schools in Iowa, Wisconsin and Idaho. She completed her Masters of Fine Art in 1972 at the University of Wisconsin-Superior and a masters in Pastoral Ministry from Seattle University, Seattle, Washington. She served in youth ministry for the Diocese of Duluth from 1975 to 1986. She then moved to Palo Alto, California, from 1989 to 1996 as a pastoral coordinator at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish. She then moved to La Crosse, where she served as vocation director for the FSPAs until 2003. She led art workshops at the Franciscan Spirituality Center up until her retirement to Villa St. Joseph in 2017. She passed away at Villa St. Joseph in 2017 at the age of 87.
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