Mary Catherine was born in Josephville on Dec. 24, 1941. She was the second of four children and the only daughter of Alexander and Leona (Sommer) Feldewert.

After her junior year at Assumption High School in O’Fallon, Mary Catherine entered the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. She became a novice on July 25, 1960, receiving the name Sister Ann Alexis. She professed first vows on Aug. 10, 1962, and earned a bachelor’s in history at Maryville University in 1968.

Sister Mary Catherine taught elementary grades in Missouri at St. Sabina in Florissant, St. Paul in Fenton, St. John the Baptist in Villa Ridge and St. Agatha and St. Nicholas in St. Louis. She also taught at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Perhaps her greatest asset as a teacher was her deep care and concern for the well-being of each student, particularly those with the greatest needs.

In 1983, Sister Mary Catherine felt called to respond to “the cry of the poor” (Psalm 34). She spent a year visiting and volunteering with sisters in Peru and Bolivia. Then, for 28 years, Sister Mary Catherine answered that cry in Bolivia, serving at Maria Reina Parish in La Paz and at Casa Nazareth and San Vicente School in Cochabamba. The people of Bolivia captured her heart and enflamed her desire for justice and mercy.

Sister Mary Catherine was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers Charles and Robert. She is survived by her brother Marvin and his wife, Sharon, and by her sister-in-law Rosalie Feldewert. She is also survived by nieces and nephews of several generations, profession classmates, sisters, many friends and hundreds whom she mothered at Casa Nazareth.

Burial was in the convent cemetery.