Sister Stella Marie Zahner, DC

Intermountain Catholic

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 March 31, 1938~August 20, 2025

Sister Stella Marie Zahner, DC went home to God on August 20, 2025. She was 87 years old and had been a Daughter of Charity for 68 years. She was born in Perryville, Missouri and had three sisters.

In 1958, she entered the Daughters of Charity in Saint Louis and, after her initial formation, she was sent to Notre Dame School in Price, Utah as a teacher. After a few years in Phoenix, Arizona, Sr. Stella Marie returned to Utah to teach at Saint Olaf School in Bountiful. In 1984 she was made principal of the school until 1996, when it became necessary for the sisters to withdraw. Sr. Stella then worked for the Diocese of Salt Lake City in the Special Needs tuition assistance program.

Sr. Stella’s love for animals was legendary. Beauty, her dog, was her constant companion and she went frequently to the farm to check on the chickens and her cow, Emma. Sr. Stella Marie loved Utah and considered it her home.

Due to declining health, Sr. Stella was missioned to the retirement home in California in 2015, where she received excellent and loving care. She will be remembered and missed by the many Utahns she knew and loved.

A funeral Mass was celebrated August 25, 2025 in Labouré Chapel in Los Altos Hills, California.