Sister Rita Schonhoff honored as St. Mary's distinguished graduate

St. Mary Cathedral School in Cape Girardeau recently honored Sister Rita Schonhoff as the 2010 NCEA Distinguished Graduate during Catholic Schools Week celebrated Jan. 30 to Feb. 5. Schonhoff is a 1952 graduate of St. Mary Cathedral School and a graduate of Notre Dame Regional High School. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and her LPN from the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational School of Practical Nursing. Schonhoff is a School Sister of Notre Dame and has lived her life in service to others. She has been a Catholic school teacher, spiritual development coordinator and retreat director, director of religious education, parish nurse and volunteered in clinics and retirement centers in the U.S. and Central America. She is currently executive director of Whole Health Outreach, an organization she founded in 1989 in Ellington, Mo.