Marguerite Churilla

Sister Marguerite Churilla, SSND, age 94, died peacefully on March 4, 2026, at Benedictine Living Community – St. Gertrude’s in Shakopee, Minnesota.

Born in 1931 in Minneapolis, Marguerite attended SS. Cyril & Methodius School through ninth grade and graduated from St. Anthony High School. She entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Mankato in 1949, professed her first vows in 1952, and was first known in community as Sister Georgiann before returning to her baptismal name. For more than three decades she taught primary and intermediate grades in Catholic elementary schools, serving at St. Matthew in St. Paul, SS. Peter & Paul in Blue Earth, St. Mary in Worthington, St. Mark in Shakopee, St. Martin in Rogers, Holy Spirit in St. Cloud, and St. Wenceslaus in Dickinson, North Dakota. From 1981 until her retirement in 2014, she lived in St. Cloud, where she served as a clerical staff member, offered parish hospitality at St. Paul Parish, volunteered in various ministries, and participated in the Foster Grandparent program. In retirement on Good Counsel Hill in Mankato she found joy as a ceramist in Ceramic Haven and continued her beloved crafting. She moved with her sisters to Shakopee in 2022.

Sister Marguerite is survived by her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame and SSND Associates, her sister-in-law Loretta Churilla, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Margaret (Selinsky) Churilla, her sister Mary Ann McCulloch, her brothers Donald and Robert, and a brother who died in infancy.