Sister Frances Marie Heitz, OP 1914-2011
GREAT BEND — Sister Frances Marie Heitz, 96, died June 10, 2011 in the Dominican Sisters’ convent infirmary, Great Bend.
She was born October, 5, 1914, in Ost, Kansas, as Thecla Rose Heitz. Sister Frances Marie was the daughter of the late Bert and Mary Robben Heitz. She entered the Dominican Sisters’ Community May 27, 1929, and pronounced her first vows August 22, 1932. She celebrated 75 years of religious profession in 2007. 
Sister Frances Marie began his ministerial career as a teacher in parochial elementary schools in Kansas in 1934. In 1943, she was appointed Director of Novices at the Motherhouse in Great Bend, a position she held until 1966. She worked in religious education of adults by correspondence courses for 10 years and served as secretary and assistant at the Art of Learning Center in Wichita. She retired at the Motherhouse in Great Bend in 2006.
Sister Frances Marie is survived by her Dominican Sisters of Peace religious community and nephews and nieces, Karl Petersen and wife Eileen, Fredonia; Anita Erickson and husband Gorden Erickson, Wichita; and Dale Petersen, Wichita.
Sister Frances Marie’s body will be brought to the hospitality area of the Dominican Chapel of the Plains, 3600 Broadway, Great Bend, at 4 p.m. Saturday June 11, where it will lie in state until the Liturgy of Christian Burial scheduled at 10 a.m. Monday, June 13, with Rev. Robert Schremmer presiding. A wake service is scheduled at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 12. Burial will be in the Sisters’ Resurrection Cemetery. Both the wake and the funeral will be held at the convent, 3600 Broadway.
Friends may call at the convent from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, from 6 until the wake service at 7 p.m. Sunday, and Monday morning from 8:30 until the Funeral Mass at 10 a.m. 
Memorials are suggested in honor of Sister Frances Marie to Dominican Sisters of Peace, 2320 Airport Drive, Columbus, Ohio, 43219-2098.

Funeral arrangements provided by
Bryant Funeral Home
1425 Patton Road
Great Bend, KS, 67530
Great Bend Tribune (Kan.) June 12, 2011