A funeral Mass for Sister Helen Brewer, DC, was celebrated Oct. 2 at Seton Residence Chapel in Evansville, Indiana. Sister Helen died Sept. 24 at Seton Residence. She was 91 years old.
Helen Frances was born on Nov. 24, 1934, in Perryville, one of seven children of Edward Louis and Stella Ann (Bass) Brewer. She graduated from St. Vincent High School in Perryville and entered the Daughters of Charity in St. Louis in 1952. She received a bachelor’s degree in English from Marillac College in St. Louis (1965), a master’s in education in secondary administration from the University of Missouri (1970) and a master’s in education in religious education from Boston College in Massachusetts in 1990.
Sister Helen served as an elementary teacher at St. Vincent de Paul School in Mobile, Alabama; Cosgriff Memorial School in Salt Lake City, Utah; St. Catherine Laboure School in St. Louis (1963-65); and Holy Trinity School in Dallas, Texas. She was also a teacher and vice principal at Cathedral High School in San Francisco, and principal of Holy Trinity School in Dallas and Labouré High School in St. Louis (1974-76).
Sister Helen served as Director of Religious Education at Sacred Heart Parish (Willow Springs, Missouri), St. Mary’s Parish (West Plains, Missouri), St. Charles Borromeo Parish in St. Charles (1989-92) and as director of Renew for the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri. She was a councillor on the Marillac Provincial Leadership of the West Central Province of the Daughters of Charity (1995-98) and a receptionist at the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Sister Helen was vice president of mission at St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, and at Daughters of Charity National Health System in St. Louis (1994-95). She served as advocacy consultant at Seton Family of Hospitals in Austin, Texas, and as associate vicar of religious for the Diocese of Austin. She served as coordinator of St. Malo’s House in Lake St. Louis and in the ministry of prayer at The Sarah Community in Bridgeton (2017-24) and at Seton Residence in Evansville until the time of her death.
Sister Helen was preceded in death by her parents; her sisters Dorothy Ann Uding and Maura Jean Adair; and her brothers, Dennis, Albert and Louis Brewer. She is survived by her sister Victoria Elizabeth Elliott, other loving family members, her Sisters in community and many friends. Burial was in St. Joseph Cemetery in Evansville.
