Sister John Marie Stack, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis and a registered nurse who had been a director of nursing services and a chaplain, died Feb. 24 of cancer at Assisi House, her order's retirement home in Aston, Pa.
She was 81.
Marguerite Mary Stack was born in Brighton, Mass., and raised in Revere, Mass., where she graduated from Immaculate Conception High School.
She entered the Sisters of St. Francis in 1947 and professed her vows in 1950. She was a 1953 graduate of Baltimore's St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing, which was located on Caroline Street.
She earned a bachelor's degree in 1967 and a master's degree in nursing in 1980, both from the Catholic University of America in Washington.
Through the years, she had been a nurse, nursing supervisor, nursing instructor, director of nursing services and chaplain.
Sister John Marie ministered at the old St. Joseph Hospital from 1953 to 1964 and returned to the relocated Towson hospital in 1982, working there until 2002.
From 1967 to 1971, she worked at St. Mary Hospital in Philadelphia, and had taught nursing from 1971 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1981 at St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing in Trenton, N.J.
After retiring in 2002, Sister John Marie moved to Portiuncula Convent near Aston. She was a driver for the sisters and a volunteer liturgist at Assisi House, where she moved earlier this year.
She enjoyed playing the piano and organ and was an accomplished needleworker. She also liked vacationing at the ocean.
A Mass of Christian burial was offered Wednesday at Assisi House.
Surviving are a brother, John Stack of Revere; and many nieces and nephews.