Sister Eunice (Marie Gerard) Ballmann, OSB, 88, a Benedictine sister of Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kans., died December 12, 2015, at the monastery. The vigil service will be Friday, December 18, at 7:00 p.m. in the monastery chapel, and the Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated there Saturday, December 19, at 10:30 a.m.

Sister Eunice was born March 6, 1927, the first of six children of August and Agnes Bange Ballmann. She grew up in Elsberry, Mo., attending high school in St. Louis while working in a Catholic hospital. She entered St. Joseph Monastery in 1947 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and her sister, Sister Marie, would soon follow. Her college degree was in elementary education and she taught in the primary grades in Catholic schools for 41 years. In 1968, she became part of the newly founded Red Plains Monastery in Oklahoma City (later Piedmont). With graduate work in education and religious studies, she continued teaching and directing religious education, and became oblate director in 1991. She also served for a time as formation director and on the leadership team of the monastery.  She came to Atchison in 2007 as her community joined the Mount St. Scholastica community. Archivist for Red Plains since 2000, she continued her service by assisting in the Mount’s archives.  

Sister Eunice was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her brothers Jerome (Emily) Ballmann, O’Fallon, Mo.; and Anthony (Lynne) Ballmann, Davis, Cal.; her sisters Margaret Lagemann, Elsberry, Mo.; Patricia Ryland, Houston, Tx.; and Sister Marie Ballmann, OSB, Atchison, nieces and nephews, and her monastic family. Becker-Dyer-Stanton Funeral Home (www.beckerdyer.com) is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be sent to Mount St. Scholastica or made online at the Mount’s website (www.mountosb.org).