Sr. Maura DeCrans

Prayer Service:

Funeral Mass:

Sister Maura DeCrans, a member of the Union of Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, died February 25, 2026, at St. Catherine’s South in Fargo, ND.

Sister Maura was born at Hallock, MN, September 16, 1946, and was given the name Mary Helen when baptized at Assumption Church in Pembina, ND. The oldest child of Helen Luria Lukach DeCrans and Alphonse Peter DeCrans, she was blessed to be part of closely-knit, loving family. She attended Seton High in Chandler, AZ and St. James Academy in New Rockford, ND, graduating from the latter.

She entered the Presentation Sisters in 1965 and made perpetual vows in 1973. Sister Maura earned associate degrees from Sacred Heart Junior College and North Dakota State University. At the latter she was a member of the first class of students to receive degrees in nursing from that institution. Subsequently, Sister Maura received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of St. Scholastica and a Master of Nursing from Marquette University.
For 10 years (1971-1981) Sister Maura was a clinical nurse and administrator in Carrington Hospital. While there she was instrumental in establishing the volunteer ambulance service. Her next assignment was as a clinical nurse and supervisor at St. John’s Hospital in Fargo.

In 1984 she joined the Cheyenne River pastoral team in Eagle Butte, SD, where she also taught in the Presentation College Satellite Nursing program on the Reservation. From 1990 to 1995 she taught nursing at the main campus of Presentation College in Aberdeen, SD. Sister Maura was called from that position to serve in administration of her religious congregation. During that time (1995-2000) she also directed retirement planning for the Sisters. In 1996 she re-organized the healthcare department at Riverview Place and provided home health services there from 1997 to 1999. For many periods over the years, she coordinated health care for Sisters in Sacred Heart Community and from 2019-2020 provided a similar service for Sisters in California.

In 2017-2018 Sister Maura was on sabbatical spending the fall at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio and the spring in the Tairseoch spirituality program in Ireland.

Preceding her in death were her parents; her brother, Father Joseph DeCrans; her niece, Helen DeCrans and her sister-in law, Kathryn DeCrans.
Surviving her are brothers Jack (Mayren), Robert (Mary), Father William, James (Marilyn), Thomas, Daniel (Michelle); and sisters Carol (Dave) Becker, Jeanne (Jeff) Garber, Bernadette (Dan) Stephenson, Rose (Dana) Wolf, Teresa (Dave) Vaske; and two generations of nieces and nephews as well as cousins and other extended family and Presentation Sisters and Associates.

For decades Sister Maura facilitated the journey of numerous people from illness or trauma back to health. She was there so very many days and nights when new life came into the world. She held the hand of many men and women as they breathed their last and comforted those left to mourn them. Despite failing health and the need for care herself, Sister Maura never lost her love for the discipline of the laying on of soapy hands.

Greater love no one has than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:12-13). Day by day and year by year Sister Maura spent her life in service of the People of God. Amen.