Date of death: 6/4/2006

Saint Meinrad Class: SS 1983

Sister Mary Eileen Heaps, O.S.B. was a native of Baltimore, MD. She had been a faithful member of the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia for 50 years. From 1960-1983 she was a teacher in both the Arlington and Richmond dioceses. Sister Mary Eileen was principal of St. Charles School in Arlington from 1969-1976 and was on the faculty of Saint Gertrude High School in Richmond for 13 years. In 1983, she became trained in CPE and ministered as a chaplain in the Virginia State Correctional System.Sister Mary Eileen was asked by the Benedictine Sisters to begin an adult literacy program at the monastery in Bristow in 1992. Thus B.E.A.C.O.N. was born and is thriving today as a program offering adult literacy, GED and English as a Second Language. Sister Mary Eileen’s special talent was networking and recruiting volunteer tutors for this program, which she directed until 2002. After retiring from B.E.A.C.O.N., she was asked to be Director of Oblates for the Benedictine Sisters. SSister Mary Eileen is survived by her brother, Joseph, his wife, Annette, their children and grandchildren and the 35 sisters of her Benedictine Community. In lieu of flowers, donations are requested for B.E.A.C.O.N. at 9535 Linton Hall Rd, Bristow, VA 20136.Published in the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger on 6/6/2006