Sr. Teresa Margaret Turnwald died peacefully at the Monastery of St. Therese on May 15 at the age of 97, after 78 years of religious life.

Sister was born Louise Gertrude Turnwald, daughter of John and Elizabeth Andres Turnwald, in Maple Grove, a rural community north of Flint. As a child of five, when asked by her father what she wanted to be when she grew up, she responded promptly, “a sister.”

Louise Turnwald entered the Monastery of St. Therese, a community of cloistered Carmelite nuns, in 1934 at the age of 19. The following spring she received the habit and the name Sr. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart. Sr. Teresa Margaret became part of a core group of sisters who led the community for the next 60 years and formed its characteristic spirit. As novice mistress, she introduced a program of serious study for a new generation of novices, making every effort to give them the solid background envisioned by the postconciliar Church.

In addition to her offices of subprioress and novice mistress, she served at various times in cooking, sewing and infirmary work. But she will be most remembered for the artwork she developed for the Spiritual Treasury enrollment program, which has since been transferred to the computer. She was also the community poet, composing verses for professions, feast days and other occasions.

Always and above all, she was in love with the Lord. She lived to the very end the spirit she had expressed on her profession day in 1936: “And oh! How sweet in life’s last hour/To think God’s will I’ve done/I’ve been obedient unto death/Like His Eternal Son.”

Her funeral was celebrated May 20 by Fr. Thomas Sutherland. She is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield.