Teresa Nordell stands with Bishop James P. Powers at the Superior Diocesan Council of Catholic Women’s annual convention last summer. She is a lifelong member of St. Ann’s, Turtle Lake. (Catholic Herald photo by Jenny Snarski)

Anita Draper
Catholic Herald staff

Teresa Nordell, a parishioner at St. Ann’s, Turtle Lake, and finalist for the Superior Diocesan Council of Catholic Women’s 2025 Pax Christi Award, volunteers in many church ministries. Among her many good works, she has an unexpected favorite.

“This is gonna sound weird, but I think my favorite is planning funerals,” she said, laughing.

Having gone through the process of honoring and burying her own loved ones, “I try to make it as smooth as possible for [the families], so they don’t have to worry about anything,” she explained.

Nordell has a deep, lasting connection to the parish. Her ancestors settled in Turtle Lake and were also members of St. Ann’s on her mother’s side of the family. She was baptized at St. Ann’s, had her first holy Communion and Confirmation there, married there and buried her husband there.

Nordell and her husband, Sheldon, were both accountants and operated a bookkeeping business together. Sheldon died five years ago on Easter Sunday, a difficult anniversary on an otherwise joyful occasion.

Nordell is now retired.

The Nordells were not able to have children; she had a hernia in her ovary when she was 2 months old, and she didn’t find out her fertility had been affected until after they were married.

“It was hard,” she commented, but the couple never looked into adoption or other options, “because we figured God thought we shouldn’t have kids.”

Instead, the Nordells devoted themselves to their community, starting an informal food pantry with other couples that involved boxing up food and distributing the boxes to families in need back before Turtle Lake had an official service.

“It was a lot of work, but it was fun, because we did it together,” she said. One woman was good at collecting donations, so “it all seemed to work out.”

Nordell’s organizational strength, coupled with her educational background, have made her a repeat member of her parish’s finance council and longtime treasurer in the parish’s Council of Catholic Women, as well as a frequent circle chairman, according to the nomination papers submitted by her fellow CCW members.

Financially, Nordell has supported her parish and community over the years, endowing a substantial scholarship for the school, providing anonymous donations to church improvement and maintenance projects and giving to local fundraisers.

These days, she’s mostly into volunteering.

Nordell’s mom has passed away, and her dad turned 90 in January. He still lives in his own home.

“I help out and do whatever I can for him,” she said. She also takes a neighbor and a friend to medical appointments, helps pay bills, coordinates the parish’s blood drives, remains active in the CCW and more.

According to her nomination form, “She quietly goes about serving her church by performing many deeds ‘behind the scenes.’ In addition to being one of the Seven Sisters and an usher, she helps by being a dependable Sacristan, [Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion] to our homebound, and additionally regularly launders the church linens.”

“I volunteer as much as I can,” she summarized.

On being named a Pax Christi finalist, Nordell added, “I just found it an honor to be nominated.”