Sr. Marilyn Furtaw, RSM, died July 1 at the age of 98 after recently celebrating her 80^th jubilee as a Sister of Mercy.

Sr. Furtaw was born Frances Cecelia on Aug. 27, 1918, in Rogers City to Clarence and Anne (Dullack) Furtaw. After her novitiate at Mt. St. Agnes in Dubuque, Iowa, she made perpetual vows on Aug. 16, 1942, at the newly established Sisters of Mercy Motherhouse in Detroit.

Sr. Furtaw served the poor, sick and uneducated in various ministries. Her early years were spent teaching students in Muskegon, Grand Rapids, Midland, Hemlock, Saginaw, Reese and Detroit. She served for seven years in the congregation’s Leprosy Hospital in Mahaica, British Columbia in the early 1950s. In 1963, she became assistant to the director of the novitiate, working with young women joining the community. She then served on the faculty of Mercy College from 1967-70, stopping to serve the poor for three years in Buenos Aires before returning to Michigan to serve at St. Mary Parish in Cheboygan. From there on until her retirement in 2001 she enjoyed working with older adults in Grand Haven, Freeland, Remus and Grand Rapids.

She is survived by her brother, Dick, of Rogers City, nieces and nephews, friends and her religious community. A funeral Mass was celebrated July 6 at McAuley Life Center in Farmington Hills. Burial is in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield.