Sister Carol Hannig, daughter of the late Adolph R. and Ann Pappa Hannig, died at Wheeling Hospital on Wednesday, August 23, 2017. She was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, on September 11, 1943, and attended St. Alphonsus Grade School and Central Catholic High School. She entered the Congregation of St. Joseph in Wheeling on September 7, 1961.
Sister Carol studied at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for her Undergraduate Degree in Music Education and Liturgical Music. After teaching and being involved in Liturgical Music for four years at Wheeling Central and Cathedral Grade Schools and St. Joseph Cathedral in Wheeling, she attended West Virginia University where she attained her Master of Music Degree in Organ Performance while serving as Music Director at St. James Parish in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
From 1982 until 1997, Sister Carol served as Coordinator of Music Ministry at the Cathedral of St. Joseph Parish in Wheeling. During this time, she also served as Diocesan Coordinator for Liturgical Music and Liturgical Musician to the Bishop of the Wheeling Diocese and taught many liturgical musicians. From 1997 until 2015, she ministered as Coordinator of Music Ministries and Organist at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in St. Clairsville, Ohio. In 2011, she was appointed as Coordinator of Sisters at Mount St. Joseph.
Sister Carol served in Formation work for the Congregation. She was certified in Spiritual Direction by the Haden Institute and in Spiritual Gerontology by the Johnson Institute. She was a founding member of the Diocesan Liturgical Music Commission and was a member of the Diocesan Art and Architecture Commission, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, Delta Mu Theta (the National Music Honorary), and Spiritual Directors International. She was also involved in the Ministry of Loving Unity – gathering the Wheeling Associates and served on a committee studying Positive Aging.
Sister Carol celebrated her golden jubilee at Mount St. Joseph on July 30, 2011. At that time, she shared the following: “I love being a Sister of St. Joseph. I cannot think of anything else I could do with my life which could give me so many opportunities to serve God’s people with the talents God gave me to develop and use for the Mission.”
In addition to her parents, Sister Carol was preceded in death by her brother, Steve, and her sister-in-law Kathy. She is survived by her brother, John and his wife Chris, of Wheeling; nieces: Kim Bonenberger and her husband Dan of Ann Arbor, MI; Amy Mehl and her husband Zachary of Twinsburg, OH; Mary Beth Kwak and her husband Brian of Buffalo, NY; nephews: J. Michael and his wife Connie of Colorado; T.J. and his wife Kristy of South Carolina; eight great nieces and great nephews; and several cousins.
Family and friends will be received from 1:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Friday, August 25, at Mount St. Joseph, 137 Mount St. Joseph Road, Wheeling, where Vigil Services will be held at 7:00 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 26, in the Mount St. Joseph Chapel with Rev. Mario Claro as celebrant and Very Rev. Thomas Chillog as homilist. Interment will be in the Sisters of St. Joseph section at Mount Calvary Cemetery, Wheeling.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Congregation of St. Joseph – Wheeling Center, 137 Mount St. Joseph Road, Wheeling, WV 26003. Funeral arrangements by Altmeyer Funeral Home, Fourteenth and Eoff Streets, Wheeling.