By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NORTH COLLEGE HILL - Sister of Mercy Beverly McGuire, who fought cancer for the past four years, didn't want to die during Lent because she wanted Alleluia to be said at her Mass.

Her cousin and only surviving relative, the Rev. James Pugh of Memphis, Tenn., who visited her in Cincinnati monthly since her diagnosis, assured her Alleluias would, indeed, be said.

Sister Beverly, former dean of students at Edgecliff College and vice president of Catholic Healthcare Partners, died Wednesday at McAuley Convent in North College Hill. She was 66.

As a professor of history, Sister Beverly "won a lot of awards and was renowned for her educational contributions," said a friend, Sister of Mercy Loraine Marie Peter.

She taught history at Mother of Mercy High School from 1962-1964 before going to teach in Nashville, Tenn., her hometown.

In 1977 she became dean of students at Edgecliff, where she was also an associate professor of history and chair of the department of history and political sciences. Later - when Edgecliff merged with Xavier University - she was an XU faculty member.

Sister Beverly entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Mercy in Cincinnati in 1959 and pronounced vows in 1962.

She held a doctoral degree in history from the University of Tennessee, a master's from Xavier University and a bachelor's from Edgecliff College.

She left XU in 1983 to become director of sponsorship and later vice president of mission services at Catholic Healthcare Partners in Cincinnati.

In 1999 she moved to St. Louis to become executive adviser for special projects for Catholic Health Association.

"She was resilient in seeing the best side of things," said Sister Peter. "And to kind of prove that she was positive until the end. A week before she died she told someone she felt very privileged because four years ago, she had been told she had six months to live."

Sister Beverly retired in 2001.

The Mass has been said for Sister Beverly. Burial is 9 a.m. today at St. Joseph New Cemetery in Price Hill.

Memorials: Sisters of Mercy Ministry Fund, 2335 Grandview Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45206.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com