Sister Mary Ellen (Ellenmae) Zimmermann, BVM

Sister Mary Ellen (Ellenmae) Zimmermann, BVM, 93, of Mount Carmel Bluffs, Dubuque, Iowa, died Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025.

Visitation will be from 9-9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, in the Mary Frances Clarke Chapel. Sharing of Memories will be at 9:30 a.m., followed immediately by the Rite of Christian Burial. Burial is in the Mount Carmel Cemetery.

Sister Mary Ellen served as associate administrator of Marian Hall in Dubuque, Iowa.  She was an elementary teacher in Illinois at Annunciation, Chicago; St. Peter, Antioch; and Lake Shore Catholic Academy, Mundelein; in Missouri at St. Catherine, Kansas City.; and in California at St. Bernard, Los Angeles; Holy Family, Glendale; and St. Anne, Santa Ana. She served as principal and teacher in California at Incarnation, Glendale, and St. Patrick, Carlsbad; and as principal and learning center coordinator at St. Therese, Palm Springs. She was a parish secretary and pastoral minister at St. James, Chicago, and assistant religious education director and office staff member at St. Mary of Vernon in Mundelein, Ill.

She was born on Nov. 8, 1932, in Milwaukee to James and Helen (Jongebloed) Zimmermann. She entered the BVM congregation on Sept. 8, 1951, from St. Sebastian Parish, Milwaukee. She professed first vows on March 19, 1954, and final vows on July 16, 1959.

She was preceded in death by her parents, a sister Elaine (Bernard) Westfahl, and brother-in-law Richard Malone.  She is survived by sisters Janet Malone and Margaret Zimmermann, BVM; nieces; nephews and the Sisters of Charity, BVM, with whom she shared life for 74 years.

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