S. Carol Baumert OSB

S. Carol Baumert OSB, 82, died on Wednesday, February 4, 2026. A wake service will be held at 7:00 PM on Sunday, February 8, 2026 and the Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 1:30 PM on Monday, February 9, 2026 with Fr. Adam Patras presiding. Both services will be held in Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel in Yankton, South Dakota. Burial will be in the monastery cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of the Wintz & Ray Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Yankton. For those unable to attend in person, you may watch a livestream at https://www.youtube.com/@shmpublicrelations5390/streams

Carol Baumert was born March 16, 1943, to Anton and Ann (Brabec) Baumert of Howells, Nebraska, the oldest of five children. She attended grade school in Howells and graduated from St. Joseph Catholic High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1962. Carol earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Alverno College in Milwaukee in 1965 and a Master of Education in 1972 from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. With these degrees, she taught school in Omaha, Lincoln, and Fremont, NE, for twenty-five years.

Carol was a lifelong advocate for the poor. As a member of the School Sisters of St. Francis for six years, she ministered in Montgomery, Alabama and an Indian mission in Montana. After leaving the order, she taught in several schools, and later started her own school called “Lincoln Open Elementary Home School.” This school closed when Carol became ill. Surviving her illness, she turned to helping the homeless. She founded a soup kitchen called Stone Soup to assist the poorest of the poor. Although it was short-lived, Carol’s work brought awareness of Lincoln’s homeless population, and in turn, the Salvation Army and many churches responded. Her efforts were acknowledged by the Lincoln Sertoma Club in 1990 when she received the Service to Mankind Award for her work. Carol believed in doing whatever is morally right and that everything else will fall into place.

Carol joined the Peace Corps from 1993 to 1995 and traveled to Malawi, Africa, helping those dying from AIDS. Returning to Lincoln, she worked in activities and hospice at a Lincoln nursing home. She was once again called to religious life and entered Sacred Heart Monastery in August 1999. She made her first profession in 2001 and her final profession on August 8, 2004.

S. Carol taught art at Mount Marty and completed two units of Clinical Pastoral Education at Avera Health. She then served in pastoral care for the sisters in the monastery’s care center and brought the word of God to inmates through prison ministry. She was a faithful and stable force to those who lived with her and for whom she advocated.

S. Carol is survived by her Benedictine community; sisters, Doris Kreikemeier and MaryBeth (Gary) Snyder; brother, Fred (Colleen) Baumert; several nieces and nephews; former husband, Ken Haar; and stepsons, Paul and Michael. She is preceded in death by her parents; brother, Dale Baumert; and brother-in-law, Patrick Kreikemeier.