Sister Mary Lou Lacey (Sr. Edward Grace), 89, beloved member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, died at Bethany Health Care Center in Framingham, Mass. on January 17, 2019. Born in Holyoke, Mass. she was the daughter of Edward A. and Grace C. (Finn) Lacey.
Sister Mary Lou entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield from St. Jerome Parish, Holyoke in 1946. She graduated from St Jerome High School, Holyoke. Sister earned a B.A. degree from the College of Our Lady of the Elms, Chicopee and an M.A. from Boston College.
She served as a teacher at schools in the Diocese of Springfield including Our Lady of Hope, Holy Family and Holy Name in Springfield, and taught for19 years at Cathedral High School. She spent the next 21 years at Elms College where she was both Director of Public Information and Director of Public Relations. Upon her retirement from the Elms in 2001 the Sister Mary Lou Lacey Library Endowment for the Humanities and Education was given to Elms College in her name by her former student Kevin Barry, who began his study of Journalism on the Cathedral Chronicle under the guidance of Sr. Mary Lou.
After her retirement, Sister volunteered at Weston Rehab and received the Spirit in Mission award from the Weston Rehab Center and the St. Joseph Medal recognizing her outstanding commitment to Cathedral High School.
In addition to her Sisters in Community Sr. Mary Lou is lovingly remembered by several cousins, friends and several generations of grateful students.
All services for Sr. Mary Lou will take place in St. Joseph Chapel at Mont Marie in Holyoke, Mass. on Monday, January 21, 2019. She will be waked from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. with a prayer service at 10:00 a.m. The Liturgy of Christian Burial will follow at 11:00 a.m. Burial will be in Mont Marie Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of St. Joseph, 577 Carew St., Springfield, MA 01104.