Sr. Marilyn (Mary Mark) Hettinger, OSB, 1931-2010
Sister Marilyn (Mary Mark) Hettinger, OSB, 78, of St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island, died Saturday, July 3, 2010, at the monastery.
A Mass of the Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the St. Mary Monastery Chapel, 2200 88th Avenue W., Rock Island. Burial will be in the Calvary Cemetery, Rock Island. Visitation will be Tuesday from 4-7 p.m. at St. Mary Monastery, where a Christian wake service will be held at 7 p.m. Memorials may be made to St. Mary Monastery. Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home, Milan, is assisting with the arrangements.
Sister Marilyn was born July 21, 1931, in Pesotum, Ill., the daughter of Louis G. Hettinger and Matilda Gilles Hettinger. Sister Marilyn attended St. Mary School Pesotum, St. Teresa's, Decatur, Ill., St. Mary's Academy, Nauvoo, Ill. Sister received her B.A. in elementary education from St. Ambrose College, Davenport, and her M.A. in religious education from Webster College, St. Louis, with further study in supervision and administration from the University of Illinois. She entered her Benedictine community on Aug. 15, 1949, and made her first profession as Benedictine Sister on Aug. 23, 1951.
Sister Marilyn served as an elementary teacher at St. Roch's, LaSalle; St. Joseph's, Ivesdale; St. John's, Bradford; Immaculate Conception, Monmouth; Holy Family, Peoria; St. Thomas More, Munster, Ind.; St. Malachy's, Geneseo; and in Catechetical work in Ladd, Ill. She served as principal at St. Anthony's in Atkinson and Holy Family in Peoria as well as Associate Director of Religious Education in Peoria. She served as Sub Prioress of St. Mary Monastery for four years and Prioress for eight years. She then served as Religious Education Coordinator at St. Thomas More in Munster, Ind. Currently, she was librarian at St. Mary Monastery.
Sister is survived by her Benedictine Sisters; her sisters, Margaret Hettinger, Agatha Koeberlein and Helen Schaefer; and many nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents; two brothers and three sisters.
Online condolences may be left at www.wheelanpressly.com.