Frances Etzkorn was born August 14, 1914, at Landeck, OH, to Frank and Rose Anna Luersman Etzkorn. Frances loved life on the family farm where she had a variety of pets: a lamb, a goldfish, a canary, and a dog named Flint. She trained her dog to bring in the mail and the firewood.

She entered St. Francis Convent January 6, 1937, and received the habit in August of that year at which time she received the name Sister Mary Alberta. Sister Alberta served her Lord and the congregation in various domestic capacities at the Motherhouse, Reed, Carey, and Blakeslee. Her ministries usually centered around people and she said, "I like people and like being around and helping others."

She spent thirty years as sacristan at St. Francis Home (1968–1998) where daily Liturgy was very meaningful and very important to her as well as spiritually growth-filled. She took pride in her assigned ministry, and in 1986, she wrote: "Any celebration requires much behind-the-scenes activity. If the event is to have dignity and meaning, there must be care and preparation; a large part of this preparation belongs to the sacristan and that is where I come in. In fact, I am in a sense responsible for everything that is used in St. Francis Home Chapel liturgy. I am not responsible for the way the liturgy is celebrated nor for the people’s participation in the liturgy, which are the responsibilities of the chaplain and of the people as a whole. Because the liturgy is our communal worship of God our Father, and because this service of worship draws us closer together as a holy people, the environment and materials used in the liturgy must all be conducive toward worship and community. I as sacristan am generally in charge of this environment and these materials. My conduct, dress and manner reflect my appreciation of what I’m doing as a sacristan."

At the Home she was especially attentive and devoted to the retired priests living there and served them in various ways.

Sister Alberta’s greatest love, however, was Carey and the Shrine of Our Lady. She had a deep love for Our Lady of Consolation, kept her statue in her room at the Home, and requested that a hymn in her honor be sung at her funeral. Sister herself became a resident at St. Francis Home on October 2, 1995 and she died there in the evening of April 29, 2009, in her 95th year.

Preceding her in death were her parents, Frank and Rose Anna, two sisters, Therese Wienken and Margaret Hempfling, and two brothers Albert and Clarence. Surviving are a sister-in-law, Mary (Albert), and a number of nieces and nephews, including Sister Rita Wienken, a great niece.