A funeral Mass for Sister Mary Rebecca Campbell, CSJ, was celebrated Oct. 29 at Nazareth Living Center Chapel in south St. Louis County. Sister Mary Rebecca died Oct. 21 at Nazareth Living Center. She was 97.
Sister Mary Rebecca, baptized Margaret Ann, was born on April 22, 1928, in Atlanta to parents Albert Francis and Ann (McGinnis) Campbell. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1946 and was received into the novitiate in 1947. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Fontbonne College in St. Louis in 1963 and a master’s degree in elementary education administration from Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1971.
Sister Mary Rebecca dedicated nearly 55 years of service to elementary education.
Her teaching ministry began in Georgia in the 1950s at Sacred Heart Grade School in Savannah. Throughout the 1950s and early ’60s, she taught at St. Joseph Male Orphanage in Washington, Sacred Heart School in Atlanta, St. Joseph Grade School in Marietta and St. Anthony Grade School in Atlanta.
From 1962-78, Sister Mary Rebecca served at St. Mary School in Littleton, Colorado, first as assistant principal, then as principal.
In 1977, Sister Mary Rebecca went back to her home state to continue her ministry. From 1977-84, she worked at the Village of St. Joseph in Atlanta as teacher, principal and director of education. She was an administrator at St. Francis Xavier Grade School in Brunswick until 1988, followed by a one-year sabbatical at the University of San Diego.
Returning to Georgia in 1989, she served as the secretary and bookkeeper at St. John the Evangelist Grade School in Valdosta through 2003.
Sister Mary Rebecca retired in 2004 and continued as a parish volunteer, visiting the sick and elderly for St. John the Evangelist Parish in Valdosta.
In 2019, she moved to St. Louis and resided at Nazareth Living Center, where she continued her mission of prayer and presence until her passing.
