Sr. Mary James Keating, CBS, a Sister of Bon Secours, died Jan. 17 in Marriottsville, Md., of natural causes at the age of 94. Born Florence Keating in Bethlehem, Pa., Sr. Mary James entered the Congregation of Bon Secours in 1942, having come in contact with the Sisters of Bon Secours when she decided she wanted to be a nurse. She professed her final vows in 1951.

A bookkeeper by profession before entering the Congregation, she attended the Bon Secours School of Nursing and received her R.N. diploma in 1947. Her first nursing assignment was at Bon Secours Hospital in Grosse Pointe, and over the years, she was a nurse at many Bon Secours health care facilities serving the sick in Methuen, Mass.; Baltimore, Md.; Darby and Rosemont, Pa.; and Richmond, Va. She became a registered radiology technician in 1958 and served in that capacity for many years. Prior to her semi- retirement in 1988, she served at the Osteopathic Medical College Hospital in suburban Philadelphia for 10 years.

In semi-retirement, she took referral calls from a social services agency in Lansdowne, Pa., and did home nursing for the sick three days a week, carrying on the original charism of the Sisters of Bon Secours. In 2005, Sr. Mary James came to live on Marian Hall in Marriottsville, Md., where the retired Sisters of Bon Secours reside.

Her funeral Mass was Jan. 23. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the attention of the Retired Sisters of Bon Secours and sent to 1525 Marriottsville Road, Marriottsville, Md. 21104.