Sr. PanciThe funeral Mass for Sister Helen (Herman Joseph) Panci, ASC, was celebrated Jan. 21 in the Chapel of St. Anne’s Retirement Community in Columbia, Pa. She died Jan. 14. She was 94 years old and had been a professed member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ for 78 years.
Born on Sept. 11, 1924, in Johnstown, Pa., Sister Panci entered the Adorers of the Blood of Christ on Jan. 3, 1940. She made first vows on Aug. 12, 1941 and final vows on Aug. 12, 1946.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in 1957 from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, an LPN in 1978 from Lancaster County (Pa.) Vocational School and a Certificate of Pastoral Education (CPE) in 1988 from Lancaster (Pa.) General Hospital.
Sister Panci’s ministries included teaching, nursing, pastoral care and missionary work. She taught elementary and middle school for 32 years in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina and Ohio. In between her years of teaching, Sister Helen spent a combined 15 years nursing at various hospitals before switching and pursuing a CPE later in life. Her pastoral care work took her to Slovakia where she combined her love of teaching and pastoral care for three years.
In the years that followed, Sister Helen engaged in domestic work before entering retirement. In 2010, she moved into St. Anne’s Retirement Community. Burial was in the convent cemetery.