Fox, Sister Pauline

Sister Pauline Fox, RSM, 83, died Thursday, March 21, 2013, at Mercy Hallmar Care Center in Cedar Rapids after a long illness. Services will be held 10 a.m. Monday, March 25, at Sacred Heart Convent Chapel in Cedar Rapids by the Rev. David Ambrosy. Burial will follow the funeral service at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Cedar Rapids. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Sacred Heart Convent, with a vigil service at 7 p.m. Arrangements are with Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services.

Sister Pauline was born Dec. 14, 1929, in New Haven, Iowa, the daughter of Ralph and Catherine (Egan) Fox. She graduated from Orchard High School in 1947 and worked for a local telephone office for two years before entering the Sisters of Mercy in Cedar Rapids in 1949. Sister Pauline received her bachelor's degree in English from Mount Mercy College and began her ministry in education, teaching primary grades in Edina, Minn., and Cedar Rapids and Oelwein, Iowa. While obtaining her master's degree in English from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., Sister Pauline began her tenure as English professor at Mount Mercy College, where she taught for 40 years. During her tenure at Mount Mercy, she spent a year at Palacky University in Olomouc, the Czech Republic, as a visiting professor, teaching English to seminarians. In 2000, Sister Pauline retired from Mount Mercy's English Department and served as archivist for the Sisters of Mercy and as a volunteer at the Catherine McAuley Center, Mercy Medical Center and the Mercy Medical Center Foundation, all in Cedar Rapids. Since 2006, Sister Pauline has resided at Mercy Hallmar Care Center in Cedar Rapids in prayer ministry.

Sister Pauline was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Ralph (Helen) Fox; two brothers-in-law, Richard Stanek and Tom Faley; two sisters-in-law, Helen (Kenny) Fox and Karen (Fink) Fox; a nephew, Joseph Leonard; and a grandnephew, Cole Fox.

In addition to the Sisters of Mercy, she is survived by three sisters, Ann Stanek of Cedar Rapids, Judith (Jim) Leonard of Iowa City and Dolores Faley of Waterloo; two brothers, Lawrence (Maradee) Fox of Port Aransas, Texas and William (Rita) Fox of Charles City; and several nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to the Sisters of Mercy at 1125 Prairie Dr. NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402.

Published March 23, 2013 in The Gazette

Updated preceded in death online only