S. Delores Rush

S. Delores Rush OSB, 89, died on Monday, June 30, 2025. A wake service will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 2, and the funeral Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, July 3, at 10:30 a.m., both in Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel. Burial will be in the monastery cemetery. Wintz & Ray Funeral Home, Yankton, is in charge of arrangements.

Delores Irene was born on the farm, September 25, 1935, the eighth child of Daniel and Celia (Curran) Rush of Ponca, Nebraska. She went to a small country school until the eighth grade and then boarded and attended Holy Trinity School in Hartington, Nebraska. On August 19, 1951, she entered Sacred Heart Monastery and graduated from Mount Marty High School in May of 1952. Delores entered the novitiate on June 28, 1952, and received the name Mary Brendan, which she later changed back to Delores in 1967 during Vatican II. S. Delores made first vows on June 29, 1953, and final vows on June 29, 1958.

S. Delores ministered as a primary teacher after obtaining a teaching certificate from Mount Marty College in 1954. She served in schools at Glen Ullin, North Dakota; Dimock, Wessington Springs, Salem, and Vermillion, South Dakota; Albion, Hartington, Omaha, St. Paul, and Ord, Nebraska. After a sabbatical in Minnesota, S. Delores shifted her ministry to the elderly. She worked at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital and Holmes Lake Manor in Lincoln, Nebraska, until 2004, when she was asked to become the Sacristan at the Monastery. Her final years were spent in the monastery care center, where she was a part of the prayer ministry of the sisters.

S. Delores prayed for her family daily and was always interested in what was happening in their lives. She often shared photos of her family with the sisters when she received them. She enjoyed dressing from head to toe for all the holidays and relaxed by window shopping in her free time. Travel highlighted her life, especially her trip to Ireland, and she enjoyed going to community concerts. S. Delores had a gift for telling stories, and her laughter in telling them was contagious.

S. Delores is survived by her Benedictine community, her sisters Mildred and Carole, and several nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents, siblings Dorothy, Paul, Pauline, Bernard, Patrick, Vern, Raymond, and Marcella.

A livestream of both services can be viewed at YouTube.com/@shmpublicrelations5390.