Sister Mary Edward Mason, PHJC, passed away June 19, 2015, at the Catherine Kasper Home, Donaldson, Indiana. She was born to Edward Leland and Estella Carmel Mason in Quincy, Illinois on July 5, 1922. She entered the Poor Handmaid of Jesus Christ community and professed her first vows on June 25, 1944.

Sister Mary Edward became a teacher in 1944 and taught hundreds of children throughout the years at St. Mark, Gary; St. Ann, Monterey, and St. Mary, East Chicago, in Indiana.  In Illinois, she taught at St. Augustine, Chicago; and St. John, Quincy. Her love of children was evident as a house mother and cottage mother at St. Vincent Villa, a PHJC orphanage in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Angel Guardian Orphanage, Chicago. In 1986 she became a Sister Hostess at St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, Indiana and then served as a pastoral visitor at St. Vincent Home in Quincy, Illinois.

During her 60th jubilee celebration, she said, “My ministry at St. Vincent’s Home is somewhat special since it is only a half block from where I grew up and is in the parish I belonged to before joining the convent. I feel God has given me this ministry at St. Vincent’s Home to prepare for my own retirement years—God willing.”

A little adventurous, Sister Mary Edward’s family gifted her a skydiving experience which she said she would never forget.

Sister Mary Edward retired to the Catherine Kasper Home in 2006.

May she rest in peace!

Memorial contributions may be made to the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, PO Box 1, Donaldson, IN 46513.