Olivia M. Pike died August 13, 2026, surrounded by loving friends. She was 87 years young.

Olivia was an extraordinary woman who leaves behind a remarkable legacy of service. She was born and raised in Rochester, New York, to Paulo and Amalia “Molly” Mariani. She was preceded in death by her parents; her brothers, Anthony and Paul; and her niece, Paula. She is survived by her beloved brother, David Mariani (Deanna), and was a cherished aunt to Paul, David, Tony, and Christopher, Lisa Reese, and many great-nieces and great-nephews, as well as her niece-in-law, Jaquie.

Olivia followed a spiritual calling after graduating high school entering a religious life in the Catholic Church, taking her vows, and becoming Sister Mary Catherine. After a period of discernment, Olivia chose to leave the convent and pursue a different path, though her faith and dedication to serving others remained at the center of her life.

Olivia attended DePaul University in Chicago, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in medical technology. She later became a senior medical technologist at Rochester General Hospital. There, she was part of a medical team whose research contributed to the understanding and management of blood platelets during open-heart surgery. Their findings were published in 1972 in Transfusion, a journal of the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies. Olivia later lived in Cleveland before eventually making her home in St. Louis, Missouri.

For more than 20 years, Olivia dedicated herself to Christian prison ministry with the Missouri Department of Corrections. She organized and facilitated teams of volunteers for Catholic-sponsored weekend retreats known as Residents Encounter Christ (REC). These encounters sought to replace despair with hope and touched the lives of incarcerated residents and volunteers alike through forgiveness, reconciliation, faith, and redemption.

She worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make the retreats possible — recruiting volunteers, raising funds, coordinating with prison officials at every level, and returning year after year to ensure the ministry continued to flourish. Her work and spirit are also remembered in Through Jasper’s Eyes: My Weekend on Death Row, a spiritual memoir written by one of the ministry’s volunteers. The REC retreats Olivia helped nurture continue today.

In 2002, Olivia learned about a restorative justice program at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center designed to help incarcerated men and women make amends by giving back to the community. An accomplished seamstress who made beautiful quilts, Olivia created sewing circle at two prisons where the incarcerated residents worked side by side to make quilts and stuffed animals for women and children living in shelters. Every Tuesday for more than a decade, she walked through the gates of a maximum-security prison carrying fabric, thread, patience, determination, and an unwavering belief in the dignity of every person.

The first lessons were simple: how to thread a needle, sew a square, and join those squares together. In time, those individual pieces became beautiful quilts made by men and women who were discovering that they, too, could create something of beauty and comfort for someone else.

In her determined way, Olivia persuaded friends, organizations, and supporters to donate fabric, thread, sewing machines, and other supplies. She even found people willing to build quilting tables and storage cabinets in the basement of the prison. The program made hundreds of quilts and stuffed animals created for those in need. But Olivia’s greatest contribution is not measured by the number of quilts produced. She offered the men and women something much more lasting: purpose, dignity, compassion, and the possibility of redemption. Through her example, she reminded them that their lives still had value and that they could use their hands and hearts to bring comfort to others.

Olivia was also a devoted member of 12-step recovery programs for 43 years, where she had an indelible impact on hundreds of people. She became a matriarch and spiritual guide within the fellowship, always extending her hand to newcomers and consistently making herself available to others.

She lived the principles of recovery by example and sponsored scores of people, helping them not only to achieve sobriety but to build lives beyond what they had once imagined possible. Olivia embodied humility, compassion, honesty, and service. Her presence will be deeply missed at the many meetings she faithfully attended and by the countless people whose lives were changed because she was there.

Of all the ways Olivia grew throughout her life, she was especially proud of one: She had learned how to listen to others — or, as she would say, to “really listen.” People came to her carrying fears, resentments, regrets, worries, and things they often could not share with anyone else. Olivia did not assume they needed her advice. Instead, she would ask, “Would you like me to say anything, or would you just like me to listen?” To Olivia, giving another person the space to be heard was one of the highest forms of respect. She was deeply proud of the woman she had become over her many years on this Earth.

Olivia was also wonderfully social and had more friends than most people could imagine. She loved people and was genuinely interested in their lives. During her time in hospice, friends came continually to sit beside her, hold her hand, tell stories, laugh, cry, and simply be near her. She passed away with abundant love of many visitors. It was a fitting reflection of a life spent showing up for others and when she needed others, they came in droves. Olivia was so very loved.

Olivia found tremendous joy and comfort in animals and adored dogs and cats, in particular. She loved sitting on her front porch, warmly greeting people as they walked by and asking about their animals accompanying them. These seemingly small interactions mattered to Olivia. She believed deeply that the smallest acts of kindness — a smile, a greeting, a question, a moment of genuine interest — could turn someone’s entire day around.

Olivia was an avid sports fan, supporting the Buffalo Bills and the St. Louis Cardinals. She cherished talking with her 90-year-old brother, David, almost every day mostly about baseball and football plays, and she called the plays as she saw them!  She loved to travel and visit her family in Rochester, NY and Florida.  Time and distance didn’t matter; her family was a phone call away. Her eyes always lit up when sharing a story or two from her visits back home.

Olivia’s life followed an extraordinary path, but a single thread ran through every chapter: service to others. From her earliest calling to religious life, to her contributions in medicine, prison ministry, quilting circles, and 43 years in the recovery community, she believed in the possibility of transformation. She saw dignity where others might have seen failure, hope where others saw despair, and potential where others had stopped looking.

She did more than speak about faith, forgiveness, and redemption — she lived those values.

Olivia leaves behind family, friends, members of the recovery community, volunteers, and countless men and women whose lives were changed by her kindness and determination. The programs she helped to build continue; the quilts she helped create warm people she will never meet; and the lessons she shared will be carried forward by those fortunate enough to have known her.

Her legacy is not simply in what she accomplished, but in the lives she touched — and in the belief she gave so many people that everyone deserves the opportunity to begin again.

A memorial service will be held at Faith Des Peres Presbyterian Church, 11155 Clayton Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63131(opens in new tab), on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. A luncheon will follow.