CLINTON — Sister Mary Francis Burke, OSF, a former educator, died Nov. 15 at The Alverno. She was 98.
Elizabeth Ann Burke was born Feb. 26, 1926 in Charlotte, the youngest child of Martin and Susan Maudie (McClintock) Burke and was a member of Immaculate Conception Parish in Petersville.
Her family moved to South Dakota before returning to Iowa in 1942. She graduated from St. Joseph High School in DeWitt in 1944. She taught in a rural Clinton County school for one year prior to entering religious life.
On Sept. 8, 1945 she entered the Sisters of St. Francis at Mount St. Clare Convent in Clinton and received the name Mary Francis at her reception on June 17, 1946. She pronounced perpetual vows on Aug. 12, 1951.
Sister Burke received an A.A. degree from Mount St. Clare College, a B.A. in elementary education from the College of St. Teresa in Winona, Minnesota and an M.A. from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She held an Iowa permanent professional teaching certificate.
Sister Burke began her ministry as a primary teacher in parochial schools in Oak Lawn, Chicago and Rochelle, Illinois; Maysville, Kentucky; and Victor and Lidderdale, Iowa. She was among the first group of Clinton Franciscans to serve internationally, helping to establish Mary Star of the Sea School in Freeport, Grand Bahama in 1960. She later served as teacher and/or principal in schools in Clinton, DeWitt and Perry, Iowa; Reedley and El Cajon, California; Chicago Heights, Illinois; and Maysville, Kentucky.
Sister Burke also ministered in Clinton in the occupational therapy department at The Alverno and as director at Mount St. Clare Convent. Additionally, she served as a home health care aide in Clinton and DeWitt, and Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
She retired from active ministry in 2006. While living at The Canticle, she enjoyed playing cards and being outdoors picking apples from the orchard and tending the flower beds to beautify the grounds. She moved to The Alverno in November 2017 and resided there until her death.
