On Sunday, May 12, 2024, Sister Laurentia Koehler, ASC, celebrated 70 years as an Adorer of the Blood of Christ at the Wichita Center. She made her first profession on July 1, 1954, and her final vows on July 1, 1959.
Sister Laurentia was born to Lawrence and Anna Clare Koehler in Windhorst, KS. Her family attended Immaculate Conception Parish in Danville, KS. She received her BS in Education from Sacred Heart College, now Newman University, in Wichita, KS in 1963; her MA in Elementary Education Administration from Catherine Spalding College in Louisville, KY in 1970; and her certificate as a Nurse Aide from Wichita Technical College in Winfield, KS in 1996.
Sister Laurentia’s teaching and administrative service was spent in Kansas and Oklahoma. In Kansas she taught at All Saints and St. Margaret Mary, both in Wichita, at St. Patrick in Plains, St. Mary in Marienthal, St. Joseph in Andale, St. Joseph in Ellinwood and St. John in Pilsen. She served as principal at St. Francis of Assisi in Wichita, and at St. John Nepomuk in Yukon, OK. She was both principal and teacher at Angelus School in Angelus, KS.
She served as associate superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City for six years. She continued her ministry in Okarche, OK as the primary caregiver for her mother in the latter’s final years. During this time, she also taught religion on a part-time basis at Holy Trinity in Okarche.
Sister Laurentia’s skills in administration were also evident as a Provincial Councilor, Local Coordinator of the Wichita Center, as administrator of Villa Maria Retirement Community in Mulvane, KS, and as Manager/Caregiver at Poppa Joe Homes in Wichita.
She currently resides at the Wichita Center where she is Living Mission in Later Life.