Kazel was born
Dorthea Lu Kazel to
Lithuanian American parents, Joseph and Malvina Kazel, in
Cleveland,
Ohio. When she joined the Ursulines, a
Roman Catholic religious institute in 1960, she took the name
Sister Laurentine, in honor of an Ursuline
nun martyred during the
French Revolution. As the
Catholic Church modernized during the 1960s, she became known as
Sister Dorothy. In the
Central American community where she died, she was known as
Madre Dorthea (Dorothy). Kazel completed her bachelor's degree and
novitiate between 1960 and 1965. Beginning in 1965, she taught for seven years in Cleveland, and did missionary work among the
Papago Tribe of
Arizona. After finishing a
master's degree in
counseling in 1974, Kazel decided to partake in the challenge of joining the
Diocese of Cleveland's mission team working in El Salvador. Once there, Kazel worked in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in
La Libertad, training
catechists, carrying out sacramental preparation programs, and overseeing the distribution of
Catholic Relief Services aid and food supplies. She was also engaged in working with
refugees from the
Salvadoran Civil War, obtaining food, shelter, and medical supplies, and transporting the sick and injured to medical facilities. ==Murder==