Sister Mary Rocca, CHM, (Sister Mary St. Pius) died at Bishop Drumm Retirement Center in Johnston on Oct. 27. She was 80.
Mary Catherine Rocca was born to Peter and Mary Pusateri Rocca in Iowa City on Sept. 26, 1935. She entered the Congregation of the Humility of Mary in 1953, professing vows in 1956.
Sr. Rocca graduated from Ottumwa Heights College in Ottumwa and Marycrest College in Davenport and taught in Iowa at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bettendorf, St. Mary in Stuart, St. Mary in Ottumwa, Sacred Heart in West Des Moines and St. Pius X in Urbandale. She also taught at St. Philomena in Sidney, Montana, and St. Louis the King in Glendale, Arizona.
She was an LPN at Iowa Lutheran Hospital. After receiving her RN from Mercy School of Nursing in 1975, she served as a nurse at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines before becoming program coordinator. She retired in 2000. She taught English as a Second Language in the Polk County Jail and at Kirkwood Community College as well as in Iowa City and at the Iowa Correctional Facility in North Liberty. Sister was also a hospice volunteer. In 2011 she moved to Bishop Drumm Retirement Center where she resided until her death.
Her funeral was held Oct. 30 at Humility of Mary Center, Davenport. Burial followed in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Davenport.
