Sister M. Jane Frances Keating, IHM
Sister M. Jane Frances Keating, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Saturday, July 9, 1960 at the Marian Convent in Scranton, PA.
She was born on January 24, 1886 in Pittston, Pennsylvania, and given the name Stella. She was the daughter of the late Thomas and Mary Sheridan Keating. She entered the IHM Congregation on March 25, 1900.
Sister Jane Frances served as teacher at the following schools: St. Alphonsus School in New York City, NY, from 1914 to 1916; St. Bernard Parochial School in Hastings, PA, from 1916 to 1922; and All Saints School in Masontown, PA, from 1922 to 1926.
Sister Jane Frances was an accomplished seamstress, and after retiring from the classroom, she served in this capacity at the IHM Motherhouse at Marywood College in Scranton, PA.
She is preceded in death by three brothers, James, Harold, and Robert, and three sisters, Greta Lynch, Mae, and Catherine.
She is survived by a brother, Stanley Joseph of Lilitz, PA, nieces and nephews.
Interment is at St. Catherine’s Cemetery in Moscow, Pennsylvania.
Memorial contributions may be made to support the retired IHM Sisters c/o the IHM Sisters Retirement Fund, IHM Center, 2300 Adams Avenue, Scranton, PA 18509.
Archival Remembrance:
Doubtless, most of us remember Sister M. Jane Frances as a "woman wrapped in silence." In a group, she was a silent, smiling listener. She was always self-effacing, keeping herself from public view, and finding her happiness in faithfully and effectively serving her community. After years of patient teaching, she was assigned to the many tasks of the Marywood sewing room. The effects of a fall made walking difficult for her. However, she present at every community exercise. The silence she had so well practiced in her "good days" deepened as the shadows fell around her when she was forced by weakness to stay in the cloister of the Marian Convent. Here the hands that had been so busy in the sewing room seemed always to be "plying the needle" in the gesture of sewing. Her humble silent example edified all.
