In Memory of Sister Ellen Mary Garrett
N0vember 11, 1943 – September 23, 2021
Sister Ellen Mary Garrett (formerly Sister Mary Luke), 77, daughter of Morris and Mary (Adams), was born Patricia Ellen Garrett on November 11, 1943, in Fisher, Illinois. She entered the Sisters of the Presentation on September 8, 1961, and professed her perpetual vows on August 22, 1969.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts from Clarke College (now Clarke University) in Dubuque, Iowa, and taught in Timber Lake, South Dakota; St. Paul, Minnesota; Dubuque (St. Columbkille and Resurrection), Osage, Charles City, Key West and Danbury, all in Iowa. She also served as principal in Osage. After she retired to Mount Loretto in 2010, she assisted in the Partners in Mission office and served as librarian. Sister Ellen Mary especially enjoyed her work in the library, the culmination of a life-long love of books. She also enjoyed gardening, baking, crafts, needlework, listening to classical music, playing cards, word games and word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, and board games. She valued
prayer and community service. At her 50th Jubilee celebration in 2012, it was said, “Sister Ellen Mary Garrett has gifted us with a gentle spirit, with intelligence and good humor. Her family has grounded her in simplicity and love of the land. Her days have been spent in teaching youth. She has done this faithfully and with care. In gentle ways Sister Ellen laughs at life’s incongruities and lives with a connectedness to the earth. A person of gratitude, she celebrates life and offers a warm and hospitable welcome to all.”
Surviving are her sisters, Mary Beth Erickson and Teresa (Jep) Jeppeson, brothers, Robert (Lan) and James (Sue), nieces, nephews, and the Sisters of the Presentation with whom she shared her life for 60 years.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister, Barbara (Sonny) Rice; her brothers, Larry and Jerome; and her brother-in-law August Erickson.
Memorials may be made to the Sisters of the Presentation, 2360 Carter Road, Dubuque, Iowa, 52001, or online at www.dbqpbvms.org.
