JOHNSTON, Iowa — Sister Elizabeth Anne Schneider, CHM, 89, died Oct. 2 at Bishop Drumm Care Center in Johnston.
Elizabeth Mary was born Aug. 18, 1928, to Dr. Vincent and Ann Marheineke Schneider in St. Charles, Mo. She entered the Congregation of the Humility of Mary on Oct. 20, 1950, having completed her undergraduate degree in music from Marycrest College in Davenport and a master’s degree in music from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. She professed vows July 29, 1953.
During her early years as a religious sister she taught music at St. Vincent School and at Marycrest College in Davenport. Later she held various administrative roles at the college level and graduated with a Ph.D. in higher education from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She added an intermediate Spanish certificate from the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio, Texas. She received her permanent professional teaching certificate from the State of Iowa in 1978.
During her four-year tenure as vice president of academic affairs at Marycrest, Sr. Schneider was a major contributor to the inauguration of the graduate program which, in 1974, offered the Master of Arts degree in four areas of concentration. She served as coordinator of cooperative programs for St. Mary College and College of St. Teresa in Winona, Minn.
She began eight years of service to the congregation as vice president in 1988. Those years included the finalization of the congregation’s revised constitution and its approval by Rome. Along with President Sister Pauline Tursi and other council members, she planned and implemented construction of the wing and chapel at Bishop Drumm Retirement Center where the Humility of Mary sisters receive long-term care.
Sr. Schneider was active on congregation committees and Quad-Cities organizations and served on the board of the Quad-Cities Plus 60 organization. She chaired the Humanities Committee the next year. She was a long-time volunteer with the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center and a dedicated fund-raiser for the Heifer Project.
A Memorial Mass was celebrated Oct. 14 since she donated her body for medical education. Memorials may be made to the Congregation of the Humility of Mary for Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat.
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