Sr. Laura Gall, Csj

Sister Laura Gall, CSJ from Nazareth, Michigan and formerly from St. Joseph Center, Tipton died in Michigan. She had been a resident of Camilla Hall at St. Joseph Center in Tipton for many years and had moved to Borgess Gardens on the Nazareth Campus of the Congregation of St. Joseph in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Nov. 7, 2012, where she died peacefully surrounded by loving care givers early Thursday morning, January 10, 2013.

Sister Laura (Rita) was born to Hilda (Peters) and William Gall on January 2, 1923 in Tipton. She was the fourth of their eight children. Her father was a farmer for several years and though the family remained on their farm, he discontinued farming and built a garage on the property. His work as a mechanic on cars and farm equipment was highly respected. Sister Laura’s mother was a wonderful homemaker. Sister Dorothy Gall, a “double” cousin to (Rita) Sister Laura, recalled how, on many Sunday afternoons, her family would visit Rita’s family. Their fathers were brothers and their mothers were sisters, which made for close family ties.

Sister Laura received her elementary education at St. John’s Parish School in Tipton and her high school education at St. Joseph Academy in Tipton. She entered the Tipton Sisters of St. Joseph Convent in 1941. After Novitiate, Sister Laura attended Good Samaritan School of Nursing in Kokomo, where she earned her R.N. She received her B.S. in nursing at St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City, Kansas. Sister Laura’s life-long ministry was in health care, usually in a supervisory position. Some of her years of nursing were at St. Joseph Hospital, in Kokomo. She served several years at St. Charles Hospital in Bend, Oregon, then at Mercy Hospital in Elwood.

During Sister Laura’s last 14 years as a nurse, she served as the manager of the infirmary at the Tipton Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse. What a blessing Sister Laura was to the sisters and lay patients there, as well as to the staff. Until the Tipton Center closed in late 2012, some of the infirmary staff who served until that time sang Sister Laura’s praises loudly. One of the aides hired by her said “Sister Laura hired me 30 years ago. Sister was always a very quiet manager, assuming her employees knew what they were doing, though I had no experience in the nursing field. Sister Laura liked to have fun, visit her family and eat chocolate! She always kept a box of petit fours in the infirmary refrigerator, in case she needed a chocolate pick-me-up. In her later years, as I got to know her as a patient in our infirmary, she and I always got along. When I would remind her she had hired me, however many years it was at that time, she would say, “Well I must have done a good job, because you are still here.” Those same praises were sung loudly by some of the sisters who were privileged to have a parent or other relative live out their lives in the Tipton infirmary, including Sister Laura, whose mother and sister died there. Sister Laura is survived by four siblings, John Gall, Anderson, Mary Sutton, Elwood, Tom and Rita Gall, Tipton and Gertrude Glotzback, Alexandria.

Following the funeral Mass at Nazareth, Sister Laura’s body will be taken to Tipton, where visitation at 11:30 a.m. and Mass at 1:00 p.m. on Wed., January 16, will take place at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church with Fr. Leroy Kinnaman presiding and burial in the cemetery at St. Joseph Center in Tipton to follow. Young-Nichols Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

May She Rest In Peace!