SIster Mary Kay Himens SSCM

Sister Mary Kay Himens, SSCM (Sister Mary of the Cross) born September 24, 1929. Entered new life April 6, 2022. Olga Kathryn Himens was the only child of her mother’s second marriage. Her half-brother and sisters doted on her. Her father, an immigrant from Russia, delighted in his daughter as she tagged along with him to his job as a wood worker in the northern Illinois town of Antioch. Teacher-principal-administrator-psychotherapist-lecturer-feminist-consultant-campus minister-poet and even cabaret singer, Sister Mary experienced a full life. Yet, everything was not easy for her. A debilitating bone disease kept her from following early plans to enter a congregation of Sisters. All her life she experienced pain which she patiently offered for the needs of the world. After receiving her degree, she was led to a small boarding school in Beaverville, Illinois to be a lay teacher among the Sisters- Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary. At Holy Family Academy, Sister Mary said “The Hound of Heaven” pursued her and she became one of the Sisters. Sister Mary taught English literature and became “mother” to the young women who boarded there. Most particularly, she nurtured the Cuban girls who came to the Academy in the early ‘60s and whom her loving heart embraced. “A Jesuit, a rabbi and a nun walked into a bar,” sounds like the beginning of a joke. It was, however, a reality of Sister Mary’s life when she was part of a campus ministry team at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., at the Law Center. There she counseled students and formed lasting friendships. Prior to her life in D.C., Sister Mary lived and worked in Gunnison, Colorado. There, she acted as Coordinator of Counseling Services at Western State College and helped with the liturgies, her beautiful voice leading the congregants. Because of the pain she constantly bore and the maternal love she bestowed on many throughout her life, the ‘Pieta’, Michelangelo’s sculpture of Jesus being held in Mary’s arms after the crucifixion, was a central image for Sister Mary. She was preceded in death by her parents, Michael and Lucy Bolt Himens, sisters Bernice Mogenson, Jean Soby and Lucille Kutz and brother Bernard. Sister Mary leaves behind numerous nieces, nephews, family members, friends, confreres, clients, directees, and the Sisters of her religious congregation – the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary. A donation can be made in her memory to the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary, 2041 West State Route 113, Kankakee, Illinois 60901. Sscm-usa.org The wake will be held at St. Mary Church in Beaverville, Illinois on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at 9:30 a.m. The funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow at St. Mary Cemetery in Beaverville.

SIster Mary Kay Himens SSCM

September 24, 1929 - April 6, 2022