Dominican Sister of Peace Rita Carr served as educator and more

Dominican Sister of Peace Rita Carr dedicated much of her life to Catholic education, serving as a teacher or principal at schools in the Archdiocese of Omaha and elsewhere in Nebraska and Iowa.

Members of her religious community and others are now remembering her 73 years of religious life.

Sister Rita died Nov. 12 at Sansbury Care Center in Saint Catharine, Kentucky, the Dominican Sisters of Peace said. She was 93.

Her funeral was Nov. 20 at the Sansbury Care Center Chapel. Burial was to be at the St. Catharine Motherhouse cemetery.

Sister Rita – a native of Wakonda, South Dakota – served at Sacred Heart School in Omaha, the former St. Anthony School in Cedar Rapids, St. Philip Neri School in Omaha, as well as at schools in Missouri Valley, Iowa, and in Kearney, McCook and Hastings in Nebraska.

For four years, beginning in 1984, she served on the leadership team for the former Dominican Sisters of St. Catharine in Saint Catharine. Sister Rita then worked in pastoral care as a hospital chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. While continuing that ministry, she became coordinator of the western region for her religious order in 2007.

In 2013 she moved to the St. Catharine Motherhouse, and in 2017 to the Sansbury Care Center, where she began a ministry of prayer and presence.

Sister Rita earned a bachelor of arts degree in education and social science from Siena College in Memphis, Tennessee, and a master of arts degree in administration and elementary education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

She also received a diploma in theological studies from Regis College in Toronto and certificates in spiritual direction and pastoral care.

Survivors include members of the Dominican Sisters of Peace and several nieces and nephews.

Memorial gifts in Sister Rita’s memory may be sent to Dominican Sisters of Peace, Office of Mission Advancement, 2320 Airport Drive, Columbus, OH, 43219-2098 or donated online.