Sister Mary Alice Simanek taught for more than 80 years

Sister Mary Alice Simanek’s teaching career spanned more than 80 years and included almost a decade in the Archdiocese of Omaha.

A member of the School Sisters of St. Francis, she died in Milwaukee on Dec. 23. She was 98.

A funeral Mass was held on Jan. 3 at St. Joseph Chapel, with burial at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, both in Milwaukee.

Born on June 20, 1924, in Racine, Wisconsin, Sister Mary Alice entered the School Sisters of St. Francis on June 13, 1941. She made her first profession of vows in 1943 and her final vows in 1949.

In the Archdiocese of Omaha, Sister Mary Alice taught at the former St. Andrew Catholic School in Bloomfield from 1952 to 1961. She retired from teaching in 2003 and lived in Milwaukee until she died.

Sister Mary Alice is survived by three sisters: Sister Frances Simanek, SSSF, also of Milwaukee; Mary Jane Baumgardt, Racine; and Marjorie Wood, Austin, Texas; many nieces and nephews; and by the School Sisters of St. Francis Community.