Sr. Carol Thresher Sds

September 18, 1941 — October 26, 2025

Sister Carol Thresher, SDS September 18, 1941 + October 26, 2025 Carol Thresher was born on September 18, 1941, in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, Diocese of Superior. She was the eldest of four children born to John and Helen (Tierney) Thresher. Her early years were influenced both by small town life and by membership in a large and warm, welcoming extended family. Having moved to Milwaukee with her family in 1953, she finished grade school at St. Nicholas Parish, then enrolled in Divine Savior High School. Giving thought to the question Sister Maureen Hopkins was known to ask of each Divine Savior senior, "Have you thought about becoming a sister?" Carol decided to give it a try. She entered the Sisters of the Divine Savior on September 13, 1959, and became a novice on August 12, 1960. As a novice, she was given the name, Sister Mary Blaise. She pronounced first vows on August 13, 1962, and perpetual vows on August 13, 1968. Subsequently, she returned to her given name, Sister Carol. She earned a BA degree in history from Marquette University in 1965, an MA degree in history from Notre Dame in 1976, and an MA degree in theology from the Catholic Theological Union in 2002. Sister Carol began her teaching career with four years at Mother of Good Counsel, Milwaukee, after which she was transferred to the Social Studies Department at Divine Savior High School. During her teaching years she also became involved in a number of collaborative efforts related to justice and peace, one of which was an inter-congregational gathering of sisters whose efforts were focused on responding to justice questions in the Milwaukee area. This justice group became a standing committee of the newly founded Milwaukee Archdiocesan Sisters' Council. The formation of the intercommunity Justice and Peace Center in Milwaukee in the early 1970s marked a turning point in Sister Carol's ministry. In 1974, she became a full-time staff member at the Center, where she served until 1981. She credited this ministry as challenging her "to grow in ways I never would have imagined." Her last years at the Justice and Peace Center saw her serving as the director, during which time she began to feel a personal call to make a move from advocacy to hands-on ministry among the poor. The Province was considering the possibility of continuing collaboration with the São Paulo, Brazil Province so, as Sister Carol stated, "I, with a hole in the pit of my stomach, was setting off on a new journey in my life." She ministered in the community of Fortaleza until 1990, then in São Mateus, a poor neighborhood in the city of São Paulo. She discovered that "folks who live on the edge of existence often know more about real life than those who believe they have the world by the tail. Here I met people who didn't know what tomorrow would bring and yet got up every morning to figure out how to put rice and beans on their family table each day. Depression and despair was a luxury they couldn't afford and didn't entertain. They blessed me with their presence in my life." Sister Carol's 25-plus years of immersion into Salvatorian history, charism and spirituality began in the early years of her ministry at São Mateus, when she was asked to become a member of a Salvatorian collaborative team. The team was tasked with creating a series of retreats to be offered to the Salvatorian Family in Brazil with the intention of deepening the lived understanding of Salvatorian spirituality. As the retreats continued to develop and incorporate yet more facets of Salvatorian spirituality, the requests from other countries, and from the Generalate, grew for retreat programs to be offered elsewhere and for reflective processes to be used in congregational meetings, so the last few years of her ministry in Brazil were focused primarily on Salvatorian spirituality. After 18 years in Brazil, the health of her parents became the determining factor in her decision to return to her home Province. A two-year master's degree program at Catholic Theological Union helped her integrate what she had experienced during her years in Brazil and presented an opportunity for further work on Salvatorian spirituality. She then joined the Jordan Ministry Team in Tucson, Arizona, working in communities along the southern border and with the Native American reservations located in the diocese. The Provincial Chapter of Election in 2003 began Sister Carol's 12 years of ministry in leadership. She served two terms as Vicaress and two terms as Provincial. A major issue through which Sister Carol and her teams shepherded the Province was the Vatican-initiated Apostolic Visitation of Institutes of Women Religious in the United States. The years following her leadership ministry were, in Sister Carol's words, "blessed with time to focus on responding to ongoing formation requests from our Provincial team as well as the larger Salvatorian Family and doing research" for writing the Province's post-1985 history. Reflecting on her life, she spoke of a confidence that, whatever life presented, she would find God in its midst, a belief reflected in one of her favorite songs, Janèt Sullivan Whittaker's "In Every Age, O God" based on Psalm 90. She added, "The book of Wisdom (6:13-14) also sums it all up well: 'Wisdom hastens to make herself known to those who long for her. Seek her in the morning and you will not be disappointed; you will find her sitting at your door'." In the early morning hours on October 26, she peacefully passed away and went home to God. She was 84 years old and professed for 63 years. She was preceded in death by her parents John and Helen (Tierney) Thresher. She is survived by her brothers, Thomas and James; sister, Colleen (Timothy) Voit; a niece, a nephew, two great-nephews, cousins, and members of the Salvatorian Family. Visitation and Mass of Christian Burial Monday, November 10, 2025 St. Anne's Salvatorian Campus Chapel • 3800 North 92 ^nd Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Visitation at 12:30 PM; Remembering Service at 1:00 PM - followed by the Mass of Christian Burial. Father Peter Schuessler, SDS - Presider Burial: Holy Cross Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Monday, November 10, 2025

12:30 - 1:00 pm

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St. Anne's Home Chapel

3800 South 92nd Street, Milwaukee, WI 53228

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