Sr. Ellen Ann Gardner, SC, formerly Katherine Lucy Gardner, died Dec. 5 at Mother Margaret Hall, the nursing facility of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. She was 74.

Born Katherine Lucy Gardner on Feb. 18, 1936, in Niagara Falls, N.Y., she was the daughter of Jackson and Ann (Weitzmann) Gardner.

She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education from the College of Mount St. Joseph, Cincinnati, and a master’s in religious education from St. John’s Teachers College, Cleveland.

Sr. Gardner entered the community in 1954 and was a Sister of Charity for 56 years. In 2004, Sr. Gardner reflected, “I met the Sisters of Charity at the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, where they let me be sacristan and press surplices . . . Sr. Mary Edith Roberts believed in me and sponsored me to the Sisters of Charity.”

She began her ministry as a teacher in Ohio, then taught at St. Mary in Jackson, and at schools in Maryland and back in Ohio.

After earning her master’s degree in religious education, Sr. Ellen Ann was offered a position as pastoral associate at a parish in an urban Appalachian neighborhood of Cincinnati. She served there seven years, then joined a Cincinnati parish as pastoral minister.

In 1982, Sr. Gardner began serving as a pastoral administrator at a parish in St. Lucia in the West Indies. In 1985, she returned to Ohio, serving  in pastoral ministry.

After her mother became ill, Sr. Gardner moved back to Michigan where she returned to teaching at her alma mater, Shrine of the Little Flower, Royal Oak (1992-93). She served as associate pastor at Madonna Parish in Detroit (1994-98).

In 1998, she became office coordinator of ministries at St. Gerald Parish in Farmington. She retired to the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati in July 2010.

Sr. Gardner is survived by her sisters, Ellen Jaeger and Mary Ann Haremski; and a brother, Charles, as well as nieces and nephews.

A funeral Mass was celebrated last Saturday, Dec. 11, in Immaculate Conception Chapel at the motherhouse. Burial was Monday, Dec. 13, in the Sisters of Charity cemetery.