SISTER MARIE ESTELLE COPELAND, SC, age 95, died at Caritas Christi, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg, on November 11, 2014. A native of Scottdale, PA, Sister Marie Estelle entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity on September 8, 1936, from St. John the Baptist Parish in Scottdale. Preceded in death by her parents, George and Stella (Harhager) Copeland, two brothers Louis Jr. and John Bandemer and three sisters, Mrs. Josephine (Joseph) Hines, Mrs. Sarah (Paul) Kratochvil, and Mrs. Joan (Charles) Daniels, she is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Frances (William) Connors, Mrs. Bertha (Floyd) Marciniak, sister-in-law Judy Bandemer, nieces and nephews. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in special education / audiology from Northwestern University. In 1943, Sister Marie Estelle was assigned to the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech, where she taught students at the primary and intermediate levels. From 1965 – 1991, as a licensed audiologist, Sister Marie Estelle tested the children’s hearing and provided for their hearing aids. Additionally, she taught lip reading to adults. Cheerful, competent and dedicated, Sister Marie Estelle reflected on her life as a Sister of Charity. “I have learned to live one day at a time – not to look forward or backward – but, in the words of Elizabeth Seton, to, “Look up to the blue sky and love Him.”
