Sister Helen Regina Vanick, the retired principal of Charles Village and East Baltimore parochial schools, died of cardiopulmonary collapse Tuesday at her order's Aston, Pa., retirement home. She was 91.
Born Ruth Patricia Vanick in Baltimore and raised in Hamilton, she attended St. Anthony of Padua Parochial School and worked as a stenographer at the Montgomery Ward store. In 1935 she entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and received the name Sister Helen Regina.
She earned an English degree from Mount St. Mary University in Emmitsburg and a master's degree in education from Loyola College.
She began teaching at the former St. Paul's School in East Baltimore in 1938. She both taught and served as principal of St. Katharine of Siena School in East Baltimore from 1952 to 1967 and then moved to SS. Philip and James School on Maryland Avenue in Charles Village. She also taught at St. Elizabeth School and the Charles A. Hall Cluster School.
She also held posts in Bethesda at Our Lady of Lourdes School and in Wilmington, Del.
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 11 a.m. today at Assisi House, 600 Red Hill Lane, Aston, Pa.
Survivors include a sister, Audrey DiBiagio of Glen Arm; and nieces and nephews.
