Springfield Dominican Sister M. Harold Herrmann died October 19, 2023, at Sacred Heart Convent. She was born in Hampshire, IL, in 1941 to Harold and Cora (Nee Finzel) Herrmann and baptized Carolynn Dorothea at St. Charles Borromeo Church there. She made her profession of vows in 1960 at Sacred Heart Convent.
Sister M. Harold will be remembered by her Dominican sisters and students as a brilliant scientist and mathematician with a wry sense of humor. She began her life of ministry teaching primary students in Mendota and Decatur, IL. She taught junior high students in Duluth, MN, and Matteson, IL, after completing a bachelor’s in chemistry and math. She also spent a brief time as an elementary school principal in Granite City and Hardin, IL, while simultaneously teaching middle and junior high students. Her high school teaching ministry began in 1984 at Sacred Heart Academy/Sacred Heart-Griffin where she taught algebra, geometry, and chemistry until 1991. A year later she returned to SHG where she tutored students for several years. In 1995 she embarked on a new ministry of presence with other sisters in neighborhoods on Springfield’s east side and then in metro East St. Louis, where she taught math at the Venice public high school for a year, then provided tutoring services at an after-school program run by the Baptist church in Madison.
Sister M. Harold was preceded in death by her parents, her stepmother Bernice Herrmann, her brothers Harold and Michael, and her step-brother Jim. She is survived by her brother Stanley Herrmann, her sister Donna Zoellner, and her step-sisters Bess (Ken) Anderson and Lydia (Steve) Johnson; her loving nieces, nephews and her Dominican Sisters.
Visitors are welcome; Visitation: 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. Monday, October 23, 2023, Sacred Heart Convent Chapel, 1237 W. Monroe St., Springfield, IL 62704. Visitation will begin with a prayer service.
Funeral Mass: 6:30 p.m. on Monday, October 23, at Sacred Heart Convent Chapel, Dominican Father Michael DeTemple, celebrant.
Wake and Mass will be livestreamed at springfieldop.org/livestream/
Burial 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, October 24, Calvary Cemetery. Livestreamed on Facebook at @springfieldop.
Memorials to honor the memory of Sister M. Harold may be made to the Dominican Sisters Retirement Fund, 1237 W. Monroe St., Springfield, IL, 62704.
The Dominican Sisters and family of Sister M. Harold are served by Butler Funeral Home, 900 S. 6th St., Springfield.
