Born Mary Grace in St. Louis, she attended St. Pius V Grade School and was awarded one of four scholarships to Notre Dame High School where she met the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She entered the candidature at Sancta Maria in Ripa in south St. Louis County in 1944. After a year of college courses, she was missioned to St. Mary’s School in New Orleans to teach second grade. She was received into the novitiate in 1946. She professed first vows in 1947 and final vows in 1953.

Sister Regina Marie earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles in 1953 and a master’s degree in education from Saint Louis University in 1962.

Sister Regina Marie taught elementary children for 48 years. In the St. Louis Archdiocese, she taught at Holy Ghost, St. Francis de Sales and Our Lady of Loretto schools. She also taught in Illinois, Texas, California and Idaho. She taught math for elementary school teachers in several evening classes as well as Saturday and summer classes at the former Notre Dame College in St. Louis for four years. During this time, she was a teaching supervisor for elementary teachers.

In addition, Sister Regina Marie ministered as the school treasurer at Instituto Notre Dame in El Progreso, Honduras. Sister Regina Marie returned to the Midwest from California in 1998 and served in various congregational roles at Sancta Maria in Ripa. She moved to Veronica House in 2007 and Anna House in 2015. She said her experiences in California and her years as a missionary in Honduras gave her tremendous respect and reverence for the Hispanic people and their culture.

Burial was in the Sancta Maria in Ripa Cemetery.