Spring 2012 - Mercy High School

Wayne & Eileen Krebs Ryan Receive Cor Misericordiae Award
The Cor Misericordiae Award recognizes our partners in
ministry at Mercy High School who espouse our mission
of careful instruction of young women. Mercy High
School bestowed with great honor the Cor Misericordiae
award to Wayne & Eileen Krebs Ryan, SM ’45 at FIESTA
2012. Wayne and Eileen enable Mercy High School to
serve our girls in a true spirit of Mercy, without reference
to a family’s ability to pay.
Wayne and
Eileen have been
longstanding
supporters
of Catholic
education and
of Mercy High
School. Eileen,
a 1945 St. Mary
Wayne & Eileen Krebs Ryan
graduate, married
Wayne three years
after graduation, on the feast of the Guardian Angels,
October 2, 1948. They have five successful adult children
including two attorneys, a dentist, a small business owner
and a corporate executive, all of whom attended Catholic
schools. Their daughter Connie, a 1970 Mercy graduate,
succeeded her father as president of Streck Laboratories.
As the founder, chairman, and CEO of Streck
Laboratories, Wayne Ryan forged an illustrious career,
earning 25 patents and authoring nearly 80 scientific
works. He earned his first patent when he created the first
The Mercy nuns just really
formed my life as I grew up.
That’s why I really wanted to
do something for them.”
Eileen Krebs Ryan, SM ’45
hematology quality
control product.
Streck eventually
produced control and
calibration materials
for hematology labs
throughout the world
in addition to products for chemistry, immunology, and
histology laboratories. He has received numerous local,
regional, and national achievement awards for the work he
loves.
Eileen Krebs Ryan was born in Humphrey, Nebr. and
grew up on a ranch about 18 miles from Petersburg,
Nebr. The family later moved to Albion, where her
father, M. J. Krebs, was a builder, and Eileen completed
a year of high school there. As a child, she watched her
father create building plans for clients and developed an
interest in building herself. The Krebs family moved to
Omaha in the early 1940s and lived near Park Avenue and
Leavenworth Street. Eileen transferred to St. Mary when
the family moved. “I loved the Sisters and the girls,” she
said. “I made lifelong friends and wonderful memories at
St. Mary.”
In 2007, Mercy High School received the single largest
individual gift in the school’s history, thanks to Wayne and
Eileen Krebs Ryan. The gift enabled Mercy to renovate
the front of the building and establish the Eileen Krebs Ryan
Plaza.
“I am happy to support Mercy High School,” said Eileen,
whose parents attended Mass at Holy Cross Church,
located across the street from the school, when the family
lived in the neighborhood years ago. “My parents would
be proud to drive by and see their name on the front of
the building. The main thing,” she said, “is that the Mercy
nuns just really formed my life as I grew up. That’s why I
really wanted to do something for them.”
The Ryan’s have
been strong and
generous Mercy
supporters over
the years. Their
example and
financial support
have positively
impacted Mercy’s
mission – the
careful instruction
of young women
– and will make a
difference for years
to come.
Eileen Krebs Ryan and Sr. Delores Hannon, RSM
Previous Cor Misericordiae
Award Recipients
2001 John and Ann Louise Micek, SM ’49
Msgr. Paul F. Peter Posthumous
2002 Michael T. DeFreece
2003 Gene & Marilyn Spence
2004 Maurice E. Cox, Jr.
2005 Gloria Jezewski Flynn, SJ ’50
2006 Robert H. Matt
2007 Dick & Mary Pat Smola McCormick ’58
2008 The Sisters of Mercy
2009 Kevin McCoy
2010 Larry B. Good
2011 Edward T. Regan
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