Lillian was born July 28, 1903, the daughter of William and Anna Clark Hazel of Owensboro, Ky. When she was 3 years old, her mother died, leaving a grieving family that was soon splintered. Lillian’s brother was sent to an orphanage and her sister was sent to Mount Saint Joseph Academy. Florence Coppage of Leitchfield, Ky., Lillian’s aunt, adopted her. Aunt Florence with Lillian later moved to Enid, Okla. In 1910, Lillian began her school days at St. Francis Xavier Elementary School in Enid. She chose to attend Mount Saint Joseph Academy for high school. After graduation, she returned to Mount Saint Joseph Academy for two years as a music teacher. She entered the novitiate and received the Ursuline habit on March 19, 1926, and the name Sister Francesca.
After vows, Sister Francesca was missioned to Seven Holy Founders School in Affton, Mo., as music teacher and parish organist. After five years, she returned to the music department at Mount Saint Joseph Academy. (She would be assigned two other times to the music department at the Academy). She also taught music at New Haven and Owensboro (St. Joseph and Brescia College) in Kentucky, and at St. Bernard Academy, Nebraska City, Neb.
In May 1959, Sister Francesca, through her friendship with Father Raymond, OCSO, met Dr. Bernard Law, a medical doctor and teacher of Mental Health at both Notre Dame University at South Bend, Ind., and Loyola University of Chicago. Dr. Law had come to the realization through his practice of medicine and teaching that women were in need of gaining a better image of their own identity and importance as women. At his invitation, Sister Francesca began a project to research the feasibility of an academic course of this nature. A framework of lectures was developed and in January 1963, Sister Francesca offered a pilot course at Mount Saint Joseph Academy to 18 women from Brescia College. From this experience, a three-credit course, titled The Eternal Woman, (forerunner of the non-credit Contemporary Woman Program) became a standard humanities minor at Brescia College. Sister Francesca directed the program at Brescia for 20 years and lectured to groups of women from coast to coast in the United States and Canada.
For health reasons, she left Kentucky in 1973 and spent four years in the warm, dry climate of the Southwest. She directed the newly established Merilac Lodge, a home for unwed mothers, in Tucson, Ariz; taught foreign students advanced English at New Mexico Technical Institute in Albuquerque, and ministered at El Centro Pastoral under the direction of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. She came back to Brescia for a short time and retired to the Motherhouse in 1982. Sister Francesca never lost her unique zest for life and keeping alive the Ursuline charism of empowering women to full potential.
She became seriously ill in March of 1987 and died on March 22. The Rev. Anthony Shonis, chaplain, celebrated the funeral Mass. The Rev. Phil Hoy, United Church of Christ, delivered the eulogy. Sister’s remains are buried the convent cemetery.