Sister of St. Joseph served two long Hawaii teaching assignments
Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Janet Louise Muehlbauer
Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Janet Louise Muehlbauer, who served for 32 years in Hawaii as a teacher over the span of two missions, died Nov. 15 at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, Missouri. She was 87 and a religious sister for 68 years.
Sister Janet Louise was born to Frank and Pearl (Verhayen) Muehlbauer on July 19, 1935, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and was received into the novitiate in 1954, taking the religious name Sister Marian Therese. She held a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in elementary education.
From 1956 to 1967, Sister Marian Therese taught in elementary schools in Missouri and Georgia. She was sent to Hawaii in 1967 to teach at Holy Trinity School in Kuliouou, St. Theresa School in Kalihi and St. Joseph School, Waipahu.
She returned to the mainland in 1984 to teach in Missouri schools until 1993 when she returned to Hawaii to St. Theresa School where she taught religious education classes to public school children, coached St. Theresa students for speech competitions, and organized a speech club.
After her final return to St. Louis in 2008, she reverted to her baptismal name of Janet. For the next 14 years, she was a literacy volunteer tutor and hospitality associate while living at the Carondelet motherhouse. During a brief illness, she moved to the Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis where she died.
Sister Janet Louise was a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan and eagerly anticipated each new football season. Her students remember her as someone who made a positive difference in their lives, and who was a wonderful role model.