Sister Helen Rolwing

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Sister Helen Rolwing, 81, of Charleston died Monday, March 4, 2002, at Charleston Manor.

She was born Feb. 10, 1921, in Charleston, daughter of Otto J. and Ethel Newcum Rolwing.

Rolwing entered the novitiate of the Ursuline Sisters in 1939 and pronounced her first vows in 1942.

She was a 1945 graduate of the College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, N.Y., received a master's degree from St. Louis University in 1960, and completed a master's degree of divinity through Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., in 1978.

Rolwing taught in several St. Louis-area schools, and at schools in Springfield, Decatur and Chicago, Ill., until 1973 when she returned to Charleston. She also traveled 19 years to Puebla, Mexico, where she taught English for mission schools.

She was a member of St. Henry Catholic Church and helped establish the Charleston Ministerial Alliance. She had an article published in "The Catholic School Journal" and poems published in "The National Poetry Anthology."

Rolwing served as organist in parishes where she taught, was a member of Southern Illinois Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Charleston Community Choir and Mississippi County Historical Society.

Survivors include four brothers, Norbert, Mark and Patrick Rolwing of Charleston, John Rolwing of Wyatt, Mo.; two sisters, Margaret Stricker of Charleston, and Rosemary Orr of Kirkwood, Mo.

She was preceded in death by a sister.

Friends may call at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday. A prayer service will be held at 7.

Funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Henry Church, with the Rev. Gerald Brown and Msgr. Richard Rolwing officiating. Burial will be in Texas Bend Cemetery north of Charleston.