Sister Edna Mae (Gretchen) Knudsen

Sister Edna Mae (Gretchen) Knudsen, BVM, 89,of Mount Carmel Bluffs, Dubuque, Iowa, died on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026.

Visitation, Sharing of Memories, and Mass of Christian Burial were held on Friday, Feb. 6., in the Mary Frances Clarke Chapel at Mount Carmel Bluffs. Burial was in the Mount Carmel Cemetery.

Sister Edna Mae was an elementary teacher in Iowa at St. Patrick in Cedar Rapids and St. Irenaeus in Clinton.  She taught in Tigard, Ore.; Oahu, Hawaii; Phoenix; and Santa Fe, N.M.  She ministered in childcare in Houston, Texas, and North Saint Paul, Minn.  She worked as a secretary and volunteered at a children’s hospital and Minnesota Zoo while living in the Twin Cities.

She was born on Jan. 18, 1937, in Calamus, Iowa, to Jacob and Eva (Trenkamp) Knudsen. She entered the BVM congregation Sept. 8, 1954, from Sacred Heart Parish, Lost Nation, Iowa. She professed first vows on March 19, 1957, and final vows on July 16, 1962.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters Sister Marie Christine Knudsen, BVM, and Lillian Kaczinski; brothers Henry (Betty) and William (Mary) Knudsen; brothers-in-law Ingwer Feddersen and Larry Chapman.  She is survived by sisters Margaret Feddersen, DeWitt, Iowa, and Lucille Chapman, Grand Mound, Iowa; a brother-in-law Ken Kaczinski; nieces; nephews; and the Sisters of Charity, BVM, with whom she shared life for 71years.