Dubuque, Iowa - Sister Edna Mae (Gretchen) Knudsen, BVM, (Gretchen), 89, of Mount Carmel Bluffs, Dubuque, Iowa, died Friday, Jan. 30, 2026.

Visitation will be from 9-9:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, in the Mary Frances Clarke Chapel at Mount Carmel Bluffs. Sharing of Memories will be at 9:30 a.m. followed immediately by the Mass of Christian Burial. Burial is in the Mount Carmel Cemetery. Services can be livestreamed at stream.prestosports.com/bvmsisters.

Edna Mae was born on Jan. 18, 1937, in Calamus, Iowa, to Jacob and Eva (Trenkamp) Knudsen. She entered the BVM congregation on Sept. 8, 1954, from Sacred Heart Parish in Lost Nation, Iowa.

She was an elementary teacher in Iowa at St. Patrick in Cedar Rapids and St. Irenaeus in Clinton. She taught in Tigard, Ore.; Oahu, Hawaii; Phoenix; and Santa Fe, N.M. She ministered in childcare in Houston, Texas, and North Saint Paul, Minn. She worked as a secretary and volunteered at a children's hospital and the Minnesota Zoo while living in the Twin Cities.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters Sister Marie Christine Knudsen, BVM, and Lillian Kaczinski; brothers Henry (Betty) and William (Mary) Knudsen; brothers-in-law Ingwer Feddersen and Larry Chapman.

She is survived by sisters Margaret Feddersen, DeWitt, Iowa, and Lucille Chapman, Grand Mound, Iowa; a brother-in-law Ken Kaczinski; nieces; nephews; and her BVM sisters, with whom she shared life for 71years.