She was born in Reading, PA, August 3, 1925 to Alice M. (Schwartz) and Effinger L. Snyder. Both parents have predeceased her. She has one step-sister, Jean.
In 1943, Jean graduated from Reading High School in Reading, PA and then studied at Bucknell University from 1943-1946 earning a Bachelor of Science in Biology Degree. From 1946-1947, she attended George E. Geisinger Memorial Hospital, Danville, PA where she earned a Medical Technician Training Certificate. In 1966, she took courses at Mt. Sinai Hospital, in Chicago, IL. From 1981-1982, she took additional courses at Maryknoll School of Theology, in Maryknoll, NY.
Jean worked at Reading Hospital in Reading, PA for nine years before entering the Maryknoll Sisters Novitiate at the Maryknoll Sisters Center on September 2, 1956. She entered from Sacred Heart Parish in West Reading, the diocese of Allentown, PA. At her Reception of the Habit she received the religious name Sister Rose Benedict. She made her First Profession of Vows on June 24, 1959 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center and her Final Vows on June 24, 1965 in Valley Park, MO.
From 1960-1966, Sr. Jean was assigned to Queen of the World Hospital in Kansas City, MO as Medical Technologist. In 1966, she was assigned to the Philippine Region at St. Paul’s Hospital, Manila and to St. Joseph’s Hospital, Manapla until 1969. In that same year she returned to the Eastern U.S. Region of the Maryknoll Sisters and worked at Reading Hospital again as Head Technologist until 1976. In 1976, she returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center and served on the Sisters Center Council and in the research and planning department until 1979 as well as in the nursing home/activities center until 1981. In 1982, Sr. Jean was assigned to Hawaii where she worked at the Spiritual Life Center in Oahu and as Liturgy Director at St. Pius X Church in Honolulu. In 1992, she returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center and worked in the center nursing home until 1996. In 1997, she retired to the Maryknoll Sisters Residence in Monrovia, CA. In 2000, she returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center.
A Vespers service will be held on Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 4:15 p.m. in the Main Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center. A funeral Mass will follow on Friday, February 3, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. also in the Main Chapel at the Center. Interment will follow in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery on the Center grounds.