A funeral Mass for Sister Martha Niemann, CSJ, was celebrated April 4 at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis. Sister Martha died March 26 at Nazareth Living Center. She was 94 years old and a sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet for 67 years.
Sister Martha was born on April 7, 1928, in Piqua, Kansas to Edward and Elizabeth (Habiger) Niemann. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet on Sept. 15, 1955, and was received into the novitiate in 1956 as Sister Louis Anne. She professed final vows on Aug. 6, 1963.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in medical technology from the College of St. Teresa (now Avila University) in 1950. For 50 years, Sister Martha served the dear neighbor in hospital ministry, in both medical and pastoral care.
In the 1960s, she worked at the old St. Joseph Hospital in Kirkwood as a medical technologist and a laboratory supervisor. In the 1970s, she was a medical technologist at St. Joseph Community Hospital in Hancock, Michigan.
In 1975, Sister Martha began 30 years of dedicated ministry as chaplain at St. Joseph Health Center in Kansas City, ministering to countless patients and families in their time of need.
Sister Martha retired in 2006 and continued serving as a volunteer at St. Therese Convent and Journey House in Kansas City. In 2019, she moved to Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, where she carried out her ministry of prayer and presence.
Burial was in Resurrection Cemetery.
