Mary Ganje, a career educator who with her late husband, Tony, made major financial contributions to the Diocese over the decades, was called to eternal rest on Sept. 15. She was 98 years old.
Born near Rembrandt, Iowa on Jan. 16, 1924, Ganje traveled west to San Diego as a young woman, eventually earning a degree in Spanish. She would go on to spend 23 years teaching Special Education in the Alvord Unified School District in Riverside County. She and Tony spent many years living in the Glen Avon area of Riverside, and they attended St. John the Evangelist Parish. Mary served as a catechist and choir director in their years at the parish.
The Ganjes provided financial support to many initiatives and endowments of the Diocese, including the Seminarian Program, lay formation programs, Catholic school scholarship funds and, most recently the “Honoring our Past, Investing in our Future” endowment to benefit the Bishop Gerald Barnes Newman Center and Cal State, San Bernardino.
Mary and Tony Ganje received the “Amar Es Entregarse” Award from Bishop Barnes in 2010. The couple was close to Bishop Barnes, who celebrated the Mass of Resurrection for Mary Ganje at St. Timothy Catholic Church in Laguna Niguel on Sept. 28.