Sister Mary Louis De Montfort (Sheila Caroline La Frenais)
Our dear Sister Marie Louis was born in Ranchi, India on 7th December 1924, to Norman and Mary Mabel La Frenais. She had a brother and a sister.
From the beginning of her life, M. Louis learned to be independent, for at the age of 14 she left her family in India and travelled alone to England by boat (The SS Strathiard) to continue her education. It was in her own words “One of the major events of my life”. She became a boarder here in the school, at St. Anne’s, Sturry, where she had to learn to adapt herself to the experience of an English life-style; a culture very different from the one she left.
After her teacher training at Digby Stuart College, she took another life-changing step, entering the Novitiate of Our Lady of the Missions in Hastings on March 18th, 1948.
Thereafter, M. Louis used her many and varied talents teaching in different schools- Southall, St Mary’s Hastings, East Pakistan (Bangladesh), going back to the land of her birth, India, spending six years teaching there; changing then to do Social Work in various parts of England, always totally engaging with warmth, enthusiasm and energy, the people she generously served.
All through her religious life, M. Louis showed a strong, determined personality. She was not one to be kept in a mould – she would, perhaps, as Gerard Manley Hopkins described: “Flame out, like shining from shook foil”! She loved life and the freedom to express herself and be creative. (Perhaps Vatican II was her salvation!)
Marie Louis enlivened any gathering with her stories, sense of humour and fun. In school she had the pupils, painting, drawing, acting and using their imagination to prepare concerts, plays and any function that came along. To be bored was not in her vocabulary. Her hobbies were reading, art, dressmaking and in fact anything in vogue or of interest. Music touched her deeply and ballet moved in her body and soul.
She was artistic, a very colourful person, sensitive to the different moods and needs of others. Unlike most, she had several ‘favourite’ colours: purple, scarlet, salmon pink and blue. She was a person of contrasts and depth.
Sister’s last years were spent in St Anne’s where she could do little for herself, but even then she did much for others with her gentle gaze, her smile and her efforts to speak her thanks. She had the most beautiful expressive eyes, which radiated the warmth and innocence of her soul. Just before the end, Sister sat up, looked intently towards the corner of the room with her sparkling blue eyes, smiled, lay back and passed away. Her carers were so moved by this, such that they would never forget the experience. Sister Marie Louis left them pondering the mystery of her final farewell on August 8th 2017. On Friday 31st Fr. Malachy, from the Passionist community in Herne Bay gathered with the Sisters to celebrate the Funeral Mass and final commendation to the Sturry Cemetery where Sister was buried with many Sisters who had preceded her.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared for those who love him.”
1Cor.2:9