Carmen Burg

Sister Carmen Burg, School Sister of Notre Dame, died Friday, May 25, 2007, at Good Counsel Convent, Mankato, Minnesota, at age 84. The Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 30, at 10:30 a.m. in Good Counsel Chapel. Visitation will be from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday at Good Counsel, with Vespers in the chapel at 7:00 p.m. Visitation is also one hour prior to the funeral on Wednesday. Mankato Mortuary is in charge.

Sister Carmen (Carmen Burg), also known as Sister Rose Marie, was born in Nicollet, Minnesota, November 30, 1922, to Matthias and Rose (Dorn) Burg. Following graduation from St. Peter High School, St. Peter, Minnesota, she entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Mankato in 1940 and took First Vows in 1943. Having earned a B.S. in History from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, and an M.E. in Education from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, her 23 years of teaching were spent in teaching on both the junior high and secondary levels in schools in Minnesota and Iowa. From 1966 to 1971, she served as Principal of Good Counsel Academy here in Mankato. The next eight years called her to St. Paul as Director of Secondary Education and Personnel for the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, with 15 Catholic Secondary Schools, more than 9,000 students and 580 teachers under her supervision. From 1979 to 1987, Sister Carmen served in leadership for the School Sisters of Notre Dame as a Provincial Councilor.

Following her years in Provincial leadership, she became Director of Public Relations and Development for the Mankato Province, serving in this position for seven years, before becoming Good Counsel Tour Director for another six years. Her last years of ministry were given to volunteer services on the civic level, as a member of the Mankato Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention Bureau, President of Church Women United, and as a member of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board, the Mankato Area Coalition for the Arts, and the organization, One Bright Star. In 2006, Sister Carmen retired here at Good Counsel.

Sister is survived by her brother Gerald (Marce) Burg of St. Peter, her brother-in-law, Luke Wesley of St. Peter, her sister-in-law Phyllis Burg of Judson, nieces and nephews, and by her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Cyril Burg, and her sister Kathleen Ann Wesley.