Sister Francella Bahr, ASC, celebrated 81 years as a vowed member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ on Sunday, June 1, 2025, at the Wichita Center in Wichita, KS. Sister Francella made her first profession on July 1, 1944, and her final vows on July 1, 1949. She marked her anniversary with the Eucharistic celebration and a festive dinner with the ASC community.
Sister Francella was born in Great Bend, KS, one of 11 children in the family of Henry and Frances Bahr. She received her bachelor’s degree in education from Sacred Heart College in Wichita, now Newman University, in 1958. As a lifelong learner, she continued to take summer courses at several universities, including Fontbonne in St. Louis, MO, and the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN.
Sister Francella’s teaching career included service in several schools in Kansas, including St. Mary in Kinsley, St. Aloysius in Greenbush, St. John in Spearville, and St. Margaret Mary in Wichita. At St. Joseph in Ellinwood she taught music for 25 years, then served many more years as a paraprofessional while also ministering to the elderly in St. Joseph parish.
In addition to her teaching ministry, Sr. Francella’s Community Service included a term as Local Coordinator at the Wichita Center.
When she retired from teaching and parish ministry, Sr. Francella moved to the Wichita Center to begin Living Mission in Later Life. In her retirement, she volunteered at the Lord’s Diner, and at TWN, The Women’s Network, an organization that helps women transition into sustainable employment. Discontinuing this volunteer work only recently, she continues her hobbies of sewing and embroidery, providing items for the Mission Case.