Former Arkansas teacher passed century mark in 2016

Published: October 22, 2020

Sister Mary Laurene Favre, RSM, a Sister of Mercy for 87 years, died Oct. 11 at the Catherine McAuley Convent in Barling. She was 104.

She was born March 28, 1916, to Leo and Josephine Ficker Favre, the third youngest of 12 children. On Sept. 8, 1933, she entered the Sisters of Mercy community in Webster Groves, Mo. In 1936 she began teaching elementary school and taught 42 years in Fort Smith, Hot Springs, Little Rock, El Dorado and Tontitown. She also worked two years supervising the dietary department at the motherhouse in St. Louis and 11 years in the medical records department at the former St. Joseph Hospital in Hot Springs.

Sister Mary Laurene moved to the McAuley Convent in 1992. In a 2016 Arkansas Catholic article celebrating her 100th birthday, she said, “When I was 17, I told my mother I wanted to become a sister, but I didn’t want to teach. God gave me the chance to comfort the dying when I retired.”

She admitted at the time she never expected to make it to 100 years old, saying with a laugh, “Sometimes I wonder if God’s forgotten about me.”

There are no immediate survivors.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held Oct. 16, with celebrant Father Bill Elser, whom Sister Mary Laurene taught in fifth grade.