Sister M. Gerald Hartney

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Holy Cross Sister M. Gerald (Maura Josephine) Hartney, 98, died Sept. 10.

Sr. Gerald was born in Limerick, Ireland, to Michael J. Hartney and Margaret Glynn Hartney. Sr. Gerald was educated in schools in Limerick. She entered the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1929, and taught at St. Theodore’s in Chicago, Ill. Her next assignment was as an accountant in Deming, N.M. She was co-founder of the Healthcare Financial Management Association. She received two honorary degrees: MS from Dunbarton College in Washington, D.C., and LLD from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame. In 2002, the American College of Health Care Executive Congress inducted her into the Health Care Hall of Fame for her accounting abilities and stewardship. She was general treasurer for the congregation for 17 years, and a resource person for dioceses and religious orders. Sr. Gerald was in the finance office for three years and administrator of Holy Cross Hospital for four years. Her final days were spent in prayer ministry.

She is survived by her nephews, Franz Alexander Forrester, of England, and Franz Robert Forrester, of Brazil; a niece Sonia Forrester, Zimbabwe, Africa; and cousins, Bridget Murphy, Limerick, Ireland, and Robert Murphy, New Jersey.

A funeral Mass was celebrated at the Church of Our Lady of Loretto, Saint Mary’s Convent, Notre Dame, Ind.