A funeral Mass for Sister Mary Ruth Hening, R.S.M., was offered April 28 at The Villa, Baltimore. Sister Mary Ruth died April 25. She was 93.
Born April 18, 1914 in South Baltimore, Sister Mary Ruth grew up as a parishioner of St. Mary Star of the Sea, Federal Hill.
She entered the Religious Sisters of Mercy in 1933, professed her final vows in 1939, and spent most of her ministry as a teacher and principal in Maryland.
Sister Mary Ruth received her bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Mount St. Agnes College in 1957 and a masters of education from Loyola College in 1971.
She educated students at St. Bernard, St. Peter, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mount St. Agnes Lower School, St. Vincent’s Male Orphan Asylum and Mount Washington County School, all in Baltimore; St. Peter, Oakland; St. Joseph, Cockeysville; St. Mary, Rockville; Villa Maria and Our Lady Queen of Angels, Timonium; and Little Flower, Woodstock.
She also taught in Mobile, Ala.; Pensacola, Fla.; and Columbus, Ga.
In addition to her educational service, Sister Mary Ruth worked for one year at the leprosarium in Chacachare, Trinidad.
Prior to her full retirement, she served as an outreach worker at Stella Maris, Towson; an administrative assistant at Marian House, Baltimore; and a clerical assistant at Mercy High School, Baltimore.
Sister Mary Ruth retired in 2002 to The Villa, her community’s retirement home in Rodgers Forge, where she continued her vocation of prayer and the works of Mercy.
She is survived by cousins Peggy Cronyn of Towson, Eleanor Dvorak of Glen Burnie, Arlene Hening Patterson of Forest Hill, and Angela Dogge of Pasadena.