Sr Grace Michael Perry

Sr. Grace M. Perry, 83 of Kearney died Monday, February 11, 2013 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 9:15 A.M. Friday, February 15 in the Mt. Carmel Home Chapel with Rev. Tom Mullowney officiating. Interment will be in the Kearney Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M., Thursday at Mt. Carmel Home with a Rosary Service at 7:00 P.M. Memorials are suggested to the Corpus Christi Carmelite Sisters. Online condolences or personal reflections may be submitted at osrfh.com. O'Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral Home of Kearney is in charge of arrangements. Sister Grace Michael Perry was born March 31, 1929 in Johnstown, PA to Michael and Frances (Urso Pernice) Perry. She spent the last 63 years serving God as a Carmelite Sister. She entered the Corpus Christi Carmel on January 10, 1950 and made her final vows on September 9, 1954. She received her bachelor's degree in behavioral sciences from Mt. Angel College in Mt. Angel, OR. Sister Grace attended certified studies from Regina Mundi Pontifical Institute for Religious in Rome, Italy. She spent three summers studying Thomistic Sacred Theology in Providence, RI. Sister Grace served her community as superior, novice director and retreat director. She spent most of her life in pastoral ministry as a religious education teacher, parish visiting, census taking and convert instructions. She taught kindergarten in Pennsylvania and Oregon. She also was the director of religious education for St. Benedicts in Johnstown, PA, St. Augustine's in Oregon and Prince of Peace in Kearney. Sister Grace traveled as a community's general chapter delegate to England, the West Indies and Rhode Island. She enjoyed making mass vestments, banners, rosaries and various crafts. In her later years she helped out at Mt. Carmel Nursing Home prior to becoming a resident. As a community, we are very grateful to Our Lord for her life among us and the joy she brought to all who knew her. We think Our Lord welcomed her into heaven with these beautiful words, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into your rest." Survivors include her sisters, Vita Giannone and Dolly Mazzarese; sisters-in-law, Rose Perry and Mary Louise Perry; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; stepmother, Marie (Simone) Perry; brothers, Samuel, Dominick and Ernest Perry; and brothers-in-law, William D. Giannone and Peter Mazzarese.

Sr Grace Michael Perry

March 31, 1929 - February 11, 2013