OSHKOSH — Sr. Therese Marie Mueller, SSM, 85, died on May 9, 2025, at SSM Franciscan Courts in Oshkosh, which is the retirement home of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother.
Sr. Therese Marie retired and moved to Franciscan Courts in 2014 where she continued her ministries of prayer, tending to flower gardens and organ playing in the chapel. She also spent time with the local community and often told stories of her life, which began in Brey, Germany, on Jan. 7, 1940, during World War II.
She was one of two children born to Karl and Regina (Graf) Mueller. She was named and baptized Kreszentia and had a twin brother, Lambert. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother.
Kreszentia entered the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in Abenberg, Germany, on Sept. 25, 1956, and professed first vows on Aug. 12, 1960, in Abenberg, receiving the name Sr. Therese Marie.
She came to the United States on June 14, 1961.
As a Sister of the Sorrowful Mother, Sr. Therese Marie earned a bachelor’s degree in modern languages from Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., and then began her ministry in education in Denville, N.J., where she taught at Our Lady of Sorrows Convent in Denville from 1963-1965.
She also taught at St. Mary’s School in Denville from 1965-1966 and 1967-1971 and at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Wichita, Kan., from 1966-1967.
She was the financial manager at St. Francis Health Resort in Denville, N.J., from 1971-1988.
During this time, she earned a master’s degree in spirituality from St. Joseph Seminary in Plainsboro, N.J.
She moved to Rome, Italy, in 1988, where she attended the Vatican School for Postulators, graduating in 1990.
Sr. Therese Marie served as postulator for the beatification/canonization of Mother Frances Streitel, the founder of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, in Rome from 1989-2010. There she wrote the Positio regarding the life, work and heroic virtues of Mother Frances, which was approved by the Vatican Commission of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.
In the Archdiocese of Bamberg, Germany, she also assisted with a cloistered order regarding historical and beatification matters.
Sr. Therese Marie’s fondest memories included meeting two popes: a private audience with St. John XXIII and receiving her diploma from St. John Paul II. Other fond memories were pilgrimages to Lourdes, Fatima, Ireland, Medjugorje and the Holy Land.
Her homecoming was held on Wednesday, May 14, at SSM Franciscan Courts. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Thursday, May 15, with Fr. Bill Hower officiating. Burial took place at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Oshkosh.