Sr. Mary Edward Hartmann was born Catherine Lydia Hartmann on June 4, 1926, in New Holstein, Wisconsin, to Edward and Elizabeth Dorn Hartmann. She was the fifth of 13 children and all attended St. Ann’s Parochial School. Catherine completed the 8th grade and then helped at home with housework.

Catherine was a shy child but a happy one. Two older sisters were called to religious life before the 13th child was born so at the age of 12 years, she was the oldest girl to help care for younger brothers and sisters. When Catherine reached the sixth grade she knew God was calling her to religious life as well.

“I had the desire then to become a sister but didn’t come to a decision about which order to enter until I was 17 years old,” she once said. After she received literature from the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Missouri, she knew it was the right place.

A few days after her 18th birthday, she packed up and moved several states away to enter religious life in a convent - a tremendous feat for a shy girl who was so close to her family. “My family was very dear to me, and my father was ill,” she said. “I was only able to leave after much prayer and hope that my father’s health would improve.”

She entered the Benedictine Sisters on June 17, 1944 and continued to receive kind letters from her family. However, her father’s health continued to fail, and he passed away when she was a novice. When her first monastic profession drew near, she was asked if she’d like to take her father’s name. “I heartily agreed,” she said, “because it was a nice name to bear.” She became Sister Mary Edward on September 7, 1946 and made her final profession on Sept. 15, 1951.

During her early years at Clyde, Sister Mary Edward worked in the kitchen, the printery, the sewing room, one spring and summer in the orchard and about 4 years with Sr. M. Clementine and the chickens. This job had a rocky start due to what she laughingly called “chicken shyness.” “As time progressed, the chickens and I became friends,” she said. “We spoke to one another as you would to a flower if you wished it to mature properly.”

She transferred to the monastery in Mundelein, Illinois in 1953 where she said she had 15 wonderful years and learned the altar bread work. She returned to Clyde in 1968. She had the opportunity in 1970 to take part in the G.E.D program held at Conception Abbey and received her Certificate of High School Equivalence in March of 1971. She considered this as part of her Silver Jubilee Gift of Religious Profession which she celebrated Sept. 7, 1971.

A job she had in her later years was taking care of the Guest House and also taking care of flowers around the convent. She was especially fond of roses and generously gave away iris bulbs to employees and guests as they might desire. Sr. Mary Edward loved to do cross stitch although a suffering she had to bear as she aged was failing eyesight.

One of her greatest joys was making Easter eggs for the community each year. Before she transferred to Our Lady of Rickenbach, the congregation’s healthcare facility in 2011, she was tasked with preparing the community’s eggs for decoration. Armed with 14 dozen eggs purchased from a neighbor who raised chickens, she went to work in the monastery's large kitchen beginning at 4 a.m. on Holy Saturday morning. She learned the tricks of the trade from deceased Sister Mary Estell Schaffer, who had left her with instructions written in large, black script so she could easily read them.  “Many mishaps can occur when you're boiling a lot of eggs. I've noticed when I say a prayer, things always go well,” she said, “Plus, a blessed egg always tastes better.” Another joy she had was making popcorn for the sisters and Conception Abbey monks.

Sr. Mary Edward wrote in her autobiography, “It is my hope and prayer that the hours which I have spent in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament exposed, as well as my sacrifices and good works, have all helped to atone for sinners and for my own sins as well so we can enjoy heaven for all eternity together.”

She died the evening of May 13 at a hospital in St. Joseph, MO while recovering from hip surgery. She is survived by two sisters, two brothers, nieces and nephews and her monastic family. Her funeral liturgy and burial at the Benedictine Sisters’ Adoration Chapel and Mount Calvary Cemetery were held May 16, 2018.