In Memoriam: Sister Mary Grace Hanes, OSB
July 20, 1927 ─ January 21, 2024
O God, your good and faithful servant,
our sister, Mary Grace, has gone home to you
after more than 75 years of monastic life.
At St. Benedict Academy her push for excellence
was second only to the love in her heart.
During decades when women were redefining
their role in the world, you, O God, made Mary Grace
a grounding presence who anchored thousands
of SBA girls in faith and belief in themselves.
Blessed with wit, patience, and deep loyalty,
Mary Grace embodied Benedictine life—
from the silent cloister of the 1950s to women
leading the gospel call for justice and equality.
May we follow the example of Mary Grace,
faithful to prayer, present to community,
and committed to good work even when life itself
demands more of us than we think we can give.
Amen
Sister Mary Grace Hanes, OSB, 96, died on Sunday, January 21, 2024, at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery in Erie, Pennsylvania. She was born in Kane, Pennsylvania, on July 20, 1927, to Susan (Griebel) Hanes and Albert Hanes and baptized St. Callistus Church in Kane. Later, after her family moved to Erie, St. Ann became her home parish. In 1945 Sister Mary Grace graduated from St. Benedict Academy and the following fall entered the Benedictine Sisters. She made her perpetual monastic profession on August 18, 1950.
Sister Mary Grace earned her Bachelor of Science degree in business education at Villa Maria College in Erie, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1954. She earned a Master’s degree in education, secondary administration, at St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, graduating in 1961. In 1971 she earned a certificate in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio.
She began her teaching career at Immaculate Conception Parish in Clarion, Pennsylvania, and later taught at St. Gregory Parish in North East and St. Joseph Parish in Oil City. However, most of Sister Mary Grace’s career in education was at St. Benedict Academy where, between 1951 and 1977, she served in positions including teacher, assistant principal, principal, and guidance counselor. She loved her years at SBA and remembered her students by name even decades later. In turn, her students loved her and acknowledged the impact her challenge to be the best they could possibly be had on their lives and their careers. After the Academy closed in 1988, Sister Mary Grace was often present at alumnae association events and as recently as last year those same alumnae, most of them now grandmothers and great-grandmothers, continued to ask about her.
A proficient and loyal administrator, from 1970-1975 Sister Mary Grace served the Benedictine community as monastery coordinator and from 1978-1990 as community secretary.
After SBA closed, Sister Mary Grace was Director of Communications at Villa Maria College for one year, then became secretary and office manager for Sister Joan Chittister in 1990. Sister Mary Grace brought her extensive administrative skills and her passion for the work of Sister Joan to that ministry until her retirement in 2011. Concurrently she served as secretary for the Alliance for International Monasticism, U.S. Secretariat, from 1990-1995.
Sister Mary Grace was proceeded in death by her parents, Susan and Albert, her brothers Albert and John, and her stepbrother, Frank Kneidinger, Jr. She is survived by her Benedictine community, her sister-in-law, Charlotte Kneidinger, her godchild Grace Vetter, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Services will take place at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery: Tuesday, January 23, 2024, Visitation from 2:00–5:00 p.m. and a Service of Memories at 7:00 p.m.; Wednesday, January 24, Visitation from 2:00–5:00 p.m. and a Mass of Christian Burial at 5:30 p.m. Interment will be Thursday, January 25, at 8:30 a.m. at Trinity Cemetery. Brugger Funeral Homes and Crematory, Pine Avenue Branch, 845 East 38th Street, is handling arrangements.
Memorials may be made to the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, 6101 East Lake Road, Erie, Pennsylvania, 16511, click here.
