Marie Therese Romain

Marie Therese Romain, loving wife, mother and grandmother, and the youngest of seven children born to Ita and Raoul Stemmann Sr, passed away on November 10, 2024, at the age of 88. Born in Lafayette, Louisiana, on December 13, 1935, Marie Therese entered the order of the Sisters of Mount Carmel in New Orleans, Louisiana, on September 3, 1950, and professed her perpetual vows on August 1, 1957. After more than two decades of religious service as an educator, she departed the order and soon met and married the love of her life, Herman, in Lake Charles, Louisiana on August 5, 1972. Marie Therese and Herman welcomed their daughter, Melissa, in 1973 and son, Byron, soon thereafter in 1975. They moved to Houston, Texas, in 1974, where Marie Therese would spend another 20 years as an educator, first as a kindergarten teacher at St. Edward’s Catholic School in Spring, Texas, then as an elementary school counselor for 18 years at Decker Prairie Elementary School in Tomball, Texas. Beyond her early years as a Carmelite Sister, Marie Therese continued to exemplify the selfless service she had learned for the rest of her life, much of it as a teacher and counselor, but all of it as a friend to all those she met and whose lives she touched.

Marie Therese was preceded in death by her husband, Herman Romain; her parents, Ita and Raoul Stemmann Sr; brothers Raoul Stemmann Jr and his wife Mercy, Father Joe Stemmann, and Preston Stemmann and his first wife Nina; and her sisters Maydel Trainor and her husband Francis, Nellie Dean and her husband John, and Mabel Ezernack and her husband Francis.

She is survived by her daughter, Melissa Romain-Harrott and her husband Wesley Harrott, and her son, Byron Romain and his wife Staci Lowman, and her four grandchildren, Sophia Romain, Oscar Romain, Clare Romain, and Charlotte Romain. She also leaves behind her sister-in-law, Connie Stemmann (second wife of Preston Stemmann), many nieces, nephews, godchildren and dear friends, all by whom she was adored.

A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10:30 AM, November 22, 2024, at St. Edwards Catholic Church, located at 2601 Spring Stuebner Road in Spring, Texas 77389. Interment will follow at 1:00 PM at Houston National Cemetery, located at 10410 Veterans Memorial Drive in Houston, Texas 77038, where Marie Therese will be laid to rest beside her husband. Visitation will be from 4:00 – 8:00 PM, with rosary 6:00 – 7:00 PM, November 21, 2024, at Brookside Funeral Home at Champions, located at 3410 Cypress Creek Pkwy in Houston, Texas 77068.

In lieu of usual remembrances, the family requests that memorial contributions be directed to:

Sisters of Mount Carmel: P.O. Box 476, Lacombe, Louisiana 7044. https://www.sistersofmountcarmel.org/donate/

or

Alzheimer’s Association: http://act.alz.org/goto/Marie_Romain