Jubilarian - 2022 Sister Mary Rita Essert

Sister Mary Rita, baptized Marilyn Ann, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1951 and was received into the novitiate in 1952. She received a bachelor’s degree in English from Fontbonne College in 1962 and a master’s degree in English from Marquette University in 1967.

Sister Mary Rita taught at St. Teresa of Avila and Holy Name School in St. Louis throughout the 1950s and 1960s. She taught in Indiana and returned to St. Louis in 1966 to teach at St. Joseph’s Academy, where she worked until 1978 as teacher, assistant principal and resource center coordinator.

In the 1970s, Sister Mary Rita served as director of the Frontenac Retirement Community for the Sisters of St. Joseph. Her ministry took her to Houston, Texas, 1978, where she served at St. Rose of Lima Parish as a tutor and RCIA director until 1982.

After tutoring for three years in Peoria, Illinois, Sister Mary Rita returned to St. Louis in 1985, serving the next 29 years as the personnel assistant at Nazareth Living Center. Sister Mary Rita retired to Nazareth Living Center in 2014, where she carries out her mission of prayer and presence.

Click here to make a donation in honor of Sister Mary Rita.