September 26, 2011

A Mass of Christian Burial for Precious Blood Sister Mary Wilford Thobe was celebrated Sept. 20 at Salem Heights in Dayton. Sister Mary Wilford, 90, died Sept. 16 at the Maria Joseph Center. She had been a Sister of the Precious Blood for 72 years.

A native of Osgood, Ohio, Sister Mary Wilford entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Precious Blood on May 18, 1939. She was active in ministry for 50 years. For 39 of those years, Sister Mary Wilford served as a cook, seamtress and housekeeper at the Sisters’ motherhouse and St. Joseph Orphanage, both in Dayton; St. Charles in Carthegena; the former St. Gregory Seminary in Cincinnati; Lourdes Hall in Dayton; and Maria Stein Convent in Maria Stein. For 11 years she worked in the altar bread department at Salem Heights. In addition to her primary ministry, Sister Mary Wilford kept various charities well supplied with arts and crafts. She retired to Salem Heights, the central house of the Sisters of the Precious Blood in 1992.

Interment was in the Salem Heights Cemetery.