Sister Eugena Sullivan, BVM

Sister Eugena Sullivan, BVM, 93, died Sunday, April 13, 2025, at Mount Carmel Bluffs, 1160 Carmel Drive, in Dubuque, Iowa.

Visitation, the Sharing of Memories and Mass of Christian Burial were on Monday, April 21, 2025. Burial was in the Mount Carmel cemetery.

Eugena was born in Chicago on June 26, 1931, to Eugene and Mollie (Fitzgerald) Sullivan. She entered the BVM congregation Sept. 8, 1953, from St. Kilian Parish, Chicago. She professed first vows on March 19, 1956, and final vows on July 16, 1961.

Eugena ministered as computer center staff and registrar at Clarke University, Dubuque, Iowa. She also was a secondary science teacher at Holy Family HS in Glendale, Calif., Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif.; and Regis HS in Kansas City, Mo.; and an elementary teacher at Our Lady Help of Christians in Chicago.

“Eugena was a gentle, kind and loving person who never wanted to draw attention to herself. She was far more interested in learning about people . . . She loved to cook and was a really good bartender. She was generous, gracious and the essence of hospitality. She loved bringing people together and treating them, whether welcoming the new Clarke faculty by inviting them to dinner or organizing a pizza party for the members of her set who meant so much to her.“ (Eulogy.)

She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Eugene (Maxine) and John (Joan) Sullivan and a sister Mary (Edward) Zidek. She is survived by nieces, a nephew, and the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with whom she shared life for 71 years.

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