 Sister Mary Avsec
Mary Louise Avsec was born as the second of three children into the family of the late William and late Mary (nee Hocevar) Avsec household. The family originally resided off Luther Avenue and moved to Bonna Avenue in the 1940s. Mary Louise attended and was graduated from, respectfully, St. Vitus Elementary School, Notre Dame Academy and then St. John College. In Feb 1953 she responded to the call to enter into the community of the Sisters of Notre Dame. When she took her final vows, she took the name “Sister Mary Bernardine” (as was the custom pre-Vatican II). Sister Mary’s primary focus and ministry for the next 40 years would be educating young children. In the city of Cleveland, she taught at St. Michael, St. Boniface, Our Lady of Lourdes, and St. Vitus Schools. She also taught at St. Michael (Independence), St. Gregory The Great (South Euclid), SS. Cyril and Methodius (Lakewood), and St. Mary (Avon). Sister Avsec then taught primary and intermediate age levels at St. Mary (Elyria), St. Helen (Newbury), and St. Justin Martyr (Eastlake). She was also an intermediate level teacher at Julie Billiart, a school for children with various types of learning disabilities in Lyndhurst, Ohio. As she was concluding her teaching ministry, she then began minister for community service at the Provincial Center in Chardon, Ohio. She became a certified pastoral minister in the diocese of Cleveland; and for the past 25 or so years she has been the pastoral minister at her home parish of St. Vitus. In this capacity, Sister Avsec has cared for the elderly, visiting seniors, home bound, or those in an assisted living arrangement; and also, bereavement ministry to families who experience the loss of a loved one. 
Sister Mary Avsec and Father John Retar
She has served as a member of the pastoral council, Conference of Older Adults in the diocese of Cleveland, a former board member of the Kovacic Recreation Center and a former board member of the then St. Clair Superior Coalition, now St. Clair Superior Development Corp. She has also been the spiritual directress of the Legion of Mary, conducted Marian devotions, Holy Hours, mini-retreats, faith inquiry class, and has faithfully served on the parish St. Vincent de Paul Society, a ministry that requires one on one encounters as an apostolic mission to then ascertain basic material needs. Sister Avsec has also been inducted into the St. Vitus Hall of Fame.
Text by Stanley Kuhar and photos courtesy of Mia and Bob Graf.
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