Thursday, 15 March 2012 09:13

Sister Marietta Urban, 83, died Thursday, March 1, in the Dominican Sisters’ Convent Infirmary in Great Bend.
She was the director of the diocesan Harvest House ministry, a parish-based enrichment program for Catholics in their retirement years.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held Monday, March 5, at the Dominican Chapel of the Plains in Great Bend. Burial was in the sisters’ Resurrection Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials in honor of Sister Marietta may be sent to Dominican Sisters of Peace, 2320 Airport Dr, Columbus OH  43219-2098.
Born on Oct. 22, 1928, in Loretto, Kan., as Viola Margaret Urban, Sister Marietta was the daughter of the late Jacob and Catherine Suppes Urban. She entered the Dominican Sisters’ Community in Great Bend, Kansas, Aug. 31, 1942, and pronounced her first vows Aug. 13, 1946. She celebrated 65 years of religious profession in 2011.
Between her years as a teacher or principal in Catholic grade schools of Kansas, Sister Marietta spent four years as a missionary in Nigeria, West Africa, and eight years as a secondary teacher in Malawi, Africa. She also served in hospital pastoral care and as coordinator of the motherhouse in Great Bend.
Sister Marietta, who “loves working with people,” more recently served the elders of Kansas as director of Harvest House in the Diocese of Wichita and as a Senior Companion with the Mental Health Foundation of Wichita. Sister Marietta was residing at the convent infirmary in Great Bend.
Sister Marietta is survived by her Dominican Sisters of Peace religious community; two sisters: Florine Meister of Great Bend and Esther Wanzel of Davenport, Iowa; and her beloved nieces and nephews.