Mary Grace Burg

Sister Mary Grace Burg (Mary Eileen Burg), a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, died on March 10, 2012, at the age of 86 in the 66th year of her religious life. She is preceded in death by her father and mother, Frank and Grace (Horst) Burg and two brothers, Eugene and Robert. Her passing is mourned by the Sisters of Notre Dame, by her loving nieces and nephews and by her many friends and other relatives.

Sister Mary Grace began her teaching career in elementary school, From 1951 to 1957 she taught at St. Veronica (Hamilton OH), St. Joseph Academy (Columbus) and St. Helen School (Dayton OH). In 1957 she began her years of teaching business classes at the following high schools: St. Xavier Commercial (Cincinnati), St. Joseph Academy (Columbus), Hartley High School (Columbus) and Mt. Notre Dame High School (Cincinnati) . In 1967-84 she once again joined the faculty of Hartley High as business teacher and as assistant principal. In 1986, after a year of study at Gonzaga University (Spokane, WA), she served as business teacher and secretary to the Development Office at Mt. Notre Dame High School. In 1987, after a year of serving as instructor at Southern Ohio College (Columbus OH), she spent the rest of her life giving community service at the Sisters of Notre Dame convent (Columbus) and at the Provincial Offices in Cincinnati OH.

Sister Mary Grace was an inspiration, not only to her students, but to all who met her. She suffered from cancer for 14 years before finally giving in to the terminal disease. Her courage and acceptance of God’s will gave her sisters, relatives and friends a model of how to live fully while facing the inevitable end of earthly live. At the end she asked only that God take her into the eternal life for which she had prepared throughout the years of her suffering. Her favorite saying was “God is good!”