By Claire Curry
Sister Edward Ann Wierzalis’s deep ties to Alvernia University took root in her childhood when she and her three siblings visited their aunt, a Bernardine nun, and attended community festivals and picnics the nuns hosted on the convent grounds. The Bernardine Franciscan Sisters also ran the high school that they established as Alvernia College in 1958. Sister Edward Ann graduated from both, earning her bachelor’s degree in education in 1971.
Inspired by her aunt, Sister Edward Ann embraced the college’s Franciscan values and mission to live a life of service. She became a Bernardine nun and was a dedicated teacher, principal, and leader in religious education who touched thousands of lives over her 30-year career. Today, her legacy lives on at her beloved alma mater through a scholarship her family established in her honor after she succumbed to a long battle with leukemia in 1993.
“She lived a life of dedication to the Franciscan mission,” said her brother Dr. Edward Wierzalis, who has funded and maintained the Sister Edward Ann Wierzalis Memorial Scholarship with the help of other family members. In addition to making generous gifts over the years, Dr. Wierzalis recently secured the scholarship’s perpetuity by including it in his personal estate plan. “It's to honor her memory and legacy of service, but it's also to invest in students who will carry out that mission of service that my sister dedicated her life to.”
To date, the scholarship has offset academic expenses for 29 students, the majority of whom have pursued careers in teaching, social service, and healthcare, according to Meggan Kerber, associate vice president of institutional advancement at Alvernia.
Dr. Wierzalis has similarly devoted his life to service as a high school counselor and in private clinical practice. Today, he is an associate clinical professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he teaches counseling courses and advises graduate students. As an educator, he understands the importance of supporting students in finding their greater purpose.
“One thing that I admire is Alvernia’s basis of education, its mission,” he said. “They really seek to educate students to not just get a degree and a career, but also to be active participants in changing their communities and address social justice issues.”
Dr. Wierzalis speaks fondly of his sister Helene who took the name “Edward Ann” in honor of their parents when she joined the Bernardine Order in 1971.
"[She] always had a very loving, maternal instinct about her,” Dr. Wierzalis said. “And I think it demonstrated itself in her passion for her vocation, but also her compassion for the people she encountered in life. She loved her students, she loved children, and she loved the people she worked with.”
Sister Edward Ann served as principal of a Diocesan elementary school in northeast Pennsylvania and was the director of religious education for the Diocese of Scranton. In her later career, she was named director of retirement for Bernardine Sisters. She sat on the Bishop’s advisory board for persons with disabilities and the Scranton Diocesan RENEW board.
Among her many accomplishments were publishing the Diocesan Curricular Guidelines for elementary catechesis and creating a religious children’s television program. She was honored with several awards, including the NCEA Presidential Award for Excellence in Catholic Education.
She completed a master’s in secondary/elementary administration and post-graduate work in theology at Villanova University. Despite her health challenges, she began doctoral studies in communications at Syracuse University.
“It amazed me when she was diagnosed with leukemia, and she had gone through so many bone marrow and other experiences, how strong and how committed she was,” Dr. Wierzalis said. “I think of my sister as the biggest inspiration in my life. She was just amazing.”
