Sister Bernice, 88, died at Loretto Motherhouse Infirmary Jan. 10. She was a Sister of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross for 69 years. A longtime educator, she taught in Catholic schools in Springfield, Mo., and in Alabama, Arizona, California, Illinois and Texas.

The daughter of Polish immigrants Sophia (Diminszyk) and Andrew Hys, Sister Bernice was born and raised in St. Louis. She was baptized at St. Casimir Parish, attended Sacred Heart School and Laboure Catholic High School, receiving her diploma in 1948. Later that same year she entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Loretto from Sacred Heart Parish. On April 25, 1949, she was received into Loretto, donning the habit and taking the name of Sister Mary Alacoque. Sister Bernice resumed her baptismal name sometime in the late 1960s. She made first vows Aug. 15, 1951, and final vows Aug. 15, 1954.

Sister Bernice earned a bachelor’s degree in history, with a minor in elementary education, in 1962 from Loretto Heights College in Denver and a master’s in linguistics in 1971 from the University of Texas in El Paso.

In her first 16 years as an educator, Sister Bernice taught in seven locations in six states, including from 1958-62 at St. Agnes School in Springfield, Mo. The next 37 years she taught at Loretto Academy, a Loretto-sponsored elementary and secondary school in El Paso, Texas. During that time, she was praised for her work conducting the academy program in English as a Second Language. She was recognized as a compassionate director of Loretto boarders, taught CCD and Scripture classes and served as a substitute teacher.

Sister Bernice retired from teaching in 2004 and moved to the Loretto Center in Webster Groves. She had a great affection for and devotion to family and was known for her joyous laugh and faithful recruitment of St. Louis area priests to preside at Masses at Loretto Center. She moved to Loretto Motherhouse Infirmary in the fall of 2013, where she carried out a ministry of prayer and volunteer service until her death.

Sister Bernice donated her body to the University of Louisville, Ky.