Sister Mary Lenore; Retired Teacher, Principal

Sister Mary Lenore, retired parochial school teacher and administrator, died Saturday. She was 91.

Born Francis Bott on April 5, 1908, in LaCrosse, Wis., she took her vows and became a nun in 1933.

For more than 50 years, she taught elementary school and was the principal of St. Francis Elementary School in Los Angeles. Seeing many non-English-speaking students struggle with the language, she started telling them jokes in English. She told a colleague, Sister Mary Amy, “If you understand humor in a language, you’ll soon understand the language.”

Sister Mary Lenore enjoyed playing pinochle and bingo. She was a member of the Serra Club of Camarillo and the Senior Club of St. Paschal Baylon Parish in Thousand Oaks.

She is survived by two nephews, Joe Shine of La Mirada and the Rev. William Rushford, of Bismarck, N.D.; and a niece, Winifred Wolfe of Bismarck.

Visitation will be from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Chapel of Sisters of Notre Dame Provincial House in Thousand Oaks.

Funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at the Chapel of Notre Dame Center in Thousand Oaks, with Msgr. John Moretta, pastor of Resurrection Church in Los Angeles, officiating. Burial will be at Assumption Cemetery in Simi Valley.

Arrangements are under the direction of Pierce Bros. Griffin Mortuary in Thousand Oaks.