Sister Helen Hermreck, 87, an Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph, died March 27 at Mount Saint Joseph, in her 72nd year of religious life. She was a native of Scipio, Kan.
Sister Helen was an Ursuline Sister of Paola, Kan., until the merger of that community with Mount Saint Joseph in 2008. She was a joyful, always gracious woman, who loved to read and to be outside enjoying nature. Her former religious name was Sister Mary Alberta Hermreck.
Sister Helen taught music at Ursuline Academy in Paola from 1940-49, then at Saint John School in Bartlesville, Okla., from 1949-57. She taught at Holy Name School in Kansas City, Kan., in 1963-64. She was novice director for her community (1957-63) and was executive director of the Lakemary Center for those with special needs in Paola from 1968-69. From 1970-80, she taught severely handicapped students at three locations in or near Sacramento, Calif., and served in pastoral ministry at St. Patrick Parish in Placerville, Calif., from 1980 until her retirement in 2005. She moved to Mount Saint Joseph in 2009.
Survivors include three sisters, Fran Dennis, of Chester, Calif., Edith Foster, of Anderson, Calif., and Rose Perisot, of Chico, Calif.; her brother Everett Hermreck of Citrus Heights, Calif.; nieces and nephews and the members of her religious community.
Gifts in memory of Sister Helen may take the form of donations to the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, 8001 Cummings Road, Maple Mount, KY 42356.
Wake reflection located on page 2.