Sister Mary Evelyn Steinman, a Franciscan Sister of Mary for 76 years, died Nov. 4 at The Sarah Community in Bridgeton. She was 99 years old.
Marie Hedwig Steinman was born Nov. 30, 1920, in St. Anthony, Missouri, the third of nine children (five boys, four girls) born to Barthol and Clara (Ewers) Steinman.
On July 18, 1944, Marie and her cousin Martha Ewers (Sister Mary Rosanne) entered the Sisters of St. Mary. She received the name Sister Mary Evelyn, and she professed final vows Feb. 11, 1950. Her two younger sisters later entered the SSM congregation as well — Sister Mary Loreda (baptized Veronica Magdalen) in 1946 and Sister Donna Marie (baptized Loretta Augusta) in 1951.
Sister Mary Evelyn completed her high school studies at St. Mary of the Angels in 1952, also working in the convent bakery. She earned her bachelor’s degree in dietetics in 1956. During that summer, she helped prepare the kitchen for the opening of Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in July; she completed her dietetic internship there in 1957.
From 1957 to 1959, she worked in clinical dietetics at St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Louis, then as a dietitian at Firmin Desloge Hospital until 1963. She returned to St. Mary’s as a therapeutic dietitian until 1965, then served in that capacity at Firmin Desloge until 1967. From 1967 to 1973, she was a clinical dietitian at Cardinal Glennon, serving also as community director for the sisters there. From 1973 to 1980, she served as a dietitian at Saint Louis University Hospital (formerly Firmin Desloge). She then returned to St. Mary’s Hospital as a clinical dietitian; she worked in dietetics in the SSM Rehab area from 1985 until 1994.
From 1994 to 1998, she was a dietitian at St. Mary’s Ringling in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Returning to St. Louis in 1998, she took on the role of sacristan and extraordinary minister of the Eucharist at St. Mary of the Angels. She moved to The Sarah Community in May 2010.
Sister Mary Evelyn found great fulfillment in serving as a sacristan, especially when preparing for holy days and the sisters’ wakes and funerals. She enjoyed quilting, crocheting afghans, baking, painting and providing nutritional guidance.
She is survived by two sisters, Sister Mary Loreda Steinman, FSM, and Sister Donna Marie Steinman, FSM, both of Bridgeton. A Mass of farewell will be held in the chapel at The Sarah Community in Bridgeton on a future date. A private burial was to take place at Resurrection Cemetery in St. Louis.
