Sister Ann Lucille Ryan - Daughter of James and Josephine Ryan, Belvidere


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Loretto Sister Ryan dies at 87  (2003, Denver Catholic Register)

Loretto Sister Ann Lucille Ryan died Oct. 4 at Flaget Hospital in Bardstown, Ky. She was in the 68th year of her religious life and was 87 years old.

She was born June 29, 1916, in Rockford, Ill. She was educated at St. Peter's School in Haskell and St. Mary's School in Muldoon, both in Illinois. In 1948 she received a B.S. degree in education from De Paul University and in 1963 an M.A. degree in library science from the University of Denver.

Sister Ryan's teaching assignments began at Sacred Heart School in St. Louis in 1934. Other schools in Missouri included: St. Catherine, Mount Carmel and Visitation, all in St. Louis; and Immaculate Conception in Maplewood. She taught at St. James in Highwood, Ill., for nine years, and then she spent four years teaching in Kentucky schools: St. Augustine in Lebanon and Elizabethtown High School in Elizabethtown.

As librarian, her assignments were: Loretto Heights Library in Denver; St. Mary's Academy Library in Englewood; and Boylan High School Library in Rockford, Ill.

In 1993 Sister Ryan returned to Denver and took a position as bookkeeper at the Loretto staff office and then was appointed coordinator at the Loretto Center in Denver. In the fall of 2001, she moved to the motherhouse and volunteered in the archives and the convent library.

St. Mary's Academy (Cherry Hills Village)

Homepage http://www.smanet.org/

St. Mary's Academy (SMA) is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado. It is independently run in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver.

It was founded in 1864 by the Sisters of Loretto. SMA bestowed the first high school diploma in the Colorado Territory in 1875. It has three times been honored by the U.S. Department of Education as a School of Excellence also known as a Blue Ribbon School. It was also featured #7 in 5280 Magazine's list of "Denver's Top High Schools."

SMA is organized into three divisions: Lower School (co-ed kindergarten through grade 5), Middle School (co-ed grades 6-8), and High School (all girls, grades 9-12). It is dedicated to a legacy of pioneering, risk-taking, and service to others. The graduates of St. Mary's Academy matriculate to many of the best colleges and universities in the world. A member of the St. Mary's Class of 2008 even scored a perfect 2400 on the SAT in 2007. [1] Its former mascot was the Spirits which was changed to the Wildcats in 1995.

[edit] Notable alumnae

 

Sister Ryan was active to the end; she attended her community group meeting on a Saturday morning, Sept. 27, and was taken to the hospital that afternoon. One week later, surrounded by many family members, she died in the Flaget Hospital.

She is survived by her sisters: Veronica Pheney of Lehigh Acres, Fla.; and Mary Claire Fane and Kathryn R. Keyes of Sun Lakes, Ariz.; and her brothers: Eugene W. Ryan of Strongsville, Ohio; and Father Jerry Ryan, O.S.A., of Abbott, Texas.

A funeral Mass was celebrated at the motherhouse church on Oct. 7. Sister Ryan was buried in the motherhouse cemetery.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Loretto Development Office, 300 E. Hampden Ave., Suite 400, Englewood, CO 80110.