Sr. RicheyA memorial Mass for Sister Mary Socorro Richey was celebrated Oct. 14 at Nazareth Living Center in south St. Louis County. Sister Mary died Sept. 30 at Nazareth Living Center. She was 88 years old and a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet for 69 years.
She was born in St. Louis on May 9, 1933, to Porter Dewitt and Elsie Marie (Hinrichs) Richey and baptized Edith Catherine. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1951 and was received into the novitiate in 1952.
Sister Mary earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics from Fontbonne College in 1966 and a master’s degree in education and reading from Indiana University in Bloomington in 1972.
In the 1950s and ’60s, Sister Mary taught at Nativity of Our Lord, Holy Guardian Angels and St. Edward schools in St. Louis.
Throughout her ministry in education in the 1960s and ’70s, she also taught at schools in Kansas City, Missouri, Littleton, Colorado and Keshena, Wisconsin. From 1978-79, she was an assistant to adults with disabilities at the L’Arche community in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Sister Mary also dedicated more than 30 years of ministry at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, working as a nurse aide (1979-89), physical therapy restorative aide (1990-2003), and as a volunteer in community service since 2004. She retired to Nazareth Living Center in 2014, carrying out a ministry of prayer and presence.
Sister Mary donated her body to science.