Sister Mary Rocca, CHM

SISTER MARY ROCCA, CHM

Iowa City

Sister Mary Rocca, CHM, (Sister Mary St. Pius), 80, died at Bishop Drumm Retirement Center, Johnston, on Oct. 27, 2015. Funeral services and a Mass of Christian Burial will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, at Humility of Mary Center, Davenport. There will be additional visitation from 10 a.m. until Mass Friday. Burial follows in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Davenport. Visitation is from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Humility of Mary Center. There will be a rosary at 4 p.m., and a vigil service at 7 p.m. Halligan McCabe DeVries Funeral Home assisted her family with local arrangements.

Mary Catherine Rocca was born to Peter and Mary Pusateri Rocca in Iowa City, on Sept. 26, 1935. She entered the Congregation of the Humility of Mary in 1953, professing vows in 1956. Sister graduated from Ottumwa Heights College and Marycrest College and taught in Iowa at Our Lady of Lourdes, Bettendorf; St. Mary, Stuart; St. Mary, Ottumwa; Sacred Heart, West Des Moines; and St. Pius X, Urbandale; as well as at St. Philomena, Sidney, Mont., and St. Louis the King, Glendale, Ariz.

She was an LPN at Iowa Lutheran Hospital. After receiving her RN from Mercy School of Nursing in 1975, she served as a nurse at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, eventually as a program coordinator, retiring in 2000. She taught English as a second language at Polk County Jail and Kirkwood Community College, as well as in Iowa City and at the Iowa Correctional Facility in North Liberty. Sister was also a hospice volunteer. In 2011, she went to Bishop Drumm Retirement Center where she resided until her death.

She is survived by siblings, Edward of Muscatine, Michael (Beryl) of Tipton, James (Mary Jo) of St. Louis and Philip and Loretta (James) Clark of Iowa City; sisters-in-law, Trudy Rocca, Rochester, Minn., and Ellen Rocca, Marion; as well as Sisters and associates of her religious community and numerous nieces, nephews and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Josephine; brothers, Joseph and John; as well as sisters-in-law, Linda Rocca and Shirley Rocca.

Memorials may be made to the Congregation of the Humility of Mary.

The family wishes to thank all the staff at Bishop Drumm and Mercy Hospice for their loving care of Sister Mary Catherine.

Online remembrances and condolences may be expressed to the family by visiting Sr. Rocca's obituary at www.hmd

funeralhome.com.