Benedictine Sister of Perpetual Adoration Mary Joy Heinlein died on June 17, 2026.
She was born Evelyn Frances Mary Heinlein on July 15, 1930, in New York City to Martin and Rose Schellinger Heinlein. Her father and mother were born in Germany, emigrating separately to the United States around 1925 and met each other in New York City. Evelyn had a sister, Doris, five years younger.
At the age of five, Evelyn attended a Catholic kindergarten for a few months, after which she went on a trip to Europe with her parents. There she met her grandparents and other relatives. She described this trip as “a most delightful adventure never to be forgotten.” Evelyn attended Immaculate Conception School for one year, during which she received her first Holy Communion and was confirmed. When her family moved, she attended Our Lady of Lourdes School for three years. The family moved again, and a public school was near their home. Thereafter, Evelyn received a public school education.
Evelyn took commercial training in high school and studied Spanish, art and music, graduating with a diploma in commercial business. Her hobbies were sketching, watercolor design and designing greeting cards. Her talent was limitless and upon graduation, she ranked second in a class of 250 students.
After graduation, Evelyn worked as a stenographer in the office of a private trade school. A vacation at a guest house conducted by nuns impressed her deeply. Within a year, she became a daily communicant. She liked to travel to upstate New York and once took a trip to New England. She was a member of her parish sodality and a fervent member of the Legion of Mary. Prayer, spiritual reading and more vacations at guest houses conducted by sisters helped her decide on a religious vocation.
Evelyn learned of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration when she found a discarded copy of the congregation’s Tabernacle and Purgatory in the vestibule of a church while taking a walk in Yonkers, New York. She began subscribing to the magazine and was particularly attracted to the articles on community life. She felt called to the Benedictine Sisters’ congregation because the lifestyle appealed to her and she had an intense love for the Blessed Sacrament.
She entered as a postulant on Jan. 6, 1953, on the Epiphany of the Lord, after arriving on the Wabash train at 3 a.m. The change to fresh country air and landscape was another tremendous adventure for her. So was the phrase “convent clean.”
“Shiny polished floors of the convent were something new to me,” she once wrote, “and when I would sometimes slip and ‘fall down in adoration,’ one of my companions would say, ‘you sure fell for this place.’”
Evelyn was invested as a novice on July 11, 1953, and made her first monastic profession on July 12, 1954, receiving the name Sister Mary Laetitia. During those early years, she helped in the cannery, bakery and kitchen. She made her final monastic profession on Sept. 12, 1959. She changed her name to Joy on April 13, 1968, after Sisters were permitted to revert to their baptismal names after Vatican II. Sister Mary Joy received Consecration of Virgins on June 6, 1971, at Clyde.
Beginning in 1969, Sister Mary Joy spent three summers attending a culinary institute in St. Louis, after which she served as Clyde cook and later as infirmary cook. In 1984, she graduated from Mesa College in San Diego with an associate of arts degree in fine arts. She enjoyed oil painting and art, “expressing what is in my heart and sharing this with community when possible.”
Over the years, Sister Mary Joy lived in the congregation’s monasteries in Clyde; St. Louis; Kansas City, Mo.; San Diego and Tucson, Arizona. She worked in the kitchen, the bakery, the garden and in the altar bread department. While in San Diego, she served on the local council. She served as assistant portress in St. Louis.
Sister May Joy transferred to Our Lady of Rickenbach, the Benedictine Sisters’ health care facility, in 2017. She died peacefully while surrounded by Sisters who prayed the rosary.
Sister Mary Joy is survived by her sister, Sister Doris Heinlein, SC, relatives in Germany, and her monastic family. Her funeral liturgy at Our Lady of Rickenbach will be June 22, 2026, with burial following in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Clyde.
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