Sister Elizabeth Mary Ganss, CSJ

Sister Elizabeth Mary Ganss, baptized Elizabeth Ann, was born in St. Louis. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1953 and was received into the novitiate in 1954. She received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Maryville College (now University) in 1953 and a master’s degree in mathematics from St. Louis University in 1964, both in St. Louis.

Sister Elizabeth began teaching high school in 1956 at St. Joseph Academy in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She returned to St. Louis in 1959 and taught at Rosati-Kain High School until 1962 and then at St. Joseph Academy until 1965. Sister Elizabeth then moved to Negaunee, Michigan, to teach at St. Paul High School in 1965. From 1966 until 1973, she taught in Peoria, Illinois, at the Academy of Our Lady.

Moving back to St. Louis, Sister Elizabeth served as the activities director at Good Samaritan Home for the Aged in 1973 and then at Nazareth Living Center until 1980. Following a brief transition period, she served as a caseworker at the Carondelet Community Betterment Federation in 1981.

From 1991 until 1993, Sister Elizabeth was a participant in the Emmaus Community, a retreat community for self-renewal. She went on to work as a secretary at St. Patrick Apartments in Florissant, Missouri, for eight years, then served eight years as a finance office assistant at the St. Joseph Provincial House in St. Louis before retiring in 2010.

Since 2013, Sister Elizabeth has resided at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, where she continues to carry out her ministry of prayer and presence.

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