Former mother general of Servants of Immaculate Heart of Mary dies

Published: 2003-11-18

IMMACULATA, Pa. (CNS) -- A funeral Mass was celebrated Nov. 8 for Mother Marie Genevieve Lawler, a former mother general of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who died Nov. 2 of complications from surgery for an aneurysm. She was 83. The Mass was celebrated in the Sacred Heart Chapel at the Villa Maria House of Studies at Immaculata University, followed by burial in Immaculata Cemetery. Sister Lawler became the 13th mother general of her congregation when she was elected to the post in 1981. She was re-elected to a second term in 1987. In 1994, she became superior of Camilla Hall, a retirement home for elderly and infirm members of the congregation. Born in Atlanta on Sept. 29, 1920, the oldest of five, Genevieve Lucille Lawler grew up in Buford, Ga., where she attended public elementary and secondary schools. She went north to go to college, graduating in 1941 from what was then Immaculata College in Pennsylvania.

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