Sister Francesca Garvey, a Missionary Sister of St. Columban, died March 12, 2017, at St. Columban's-on-the-Lake Retirement Home in Silver Creek.

The former Rita Mary Garvey was born in Parkersburg, W.Va., to Patrick Joseph and Mary Agnes (McCallum) Garvey in 1924. She worked for her family's business for several years before joining the missionary order of Columban Sisters, in 1946, becoming the first postulant in the order's Silver Creek novitiate. She moved to Boston, Mass., in 1948 and professed vows as a sister of the order in 1949.

Sister Francesca was initially superior of the Columban House in Boston. She eventually became the order's regional superior for the entire United States. In 1968, the order acquired the Columban Fathers' building in Silver Creek, and Sister Francesca moved there. In 1970, she assisted in opening a retirement home there.

For 12 years, Sister Francesca assisted in Columban missions in the United States, Chile, Hong Kong, Korea, Peru and the Philippines. She served mainly in the order's American offices in Silver Creek, Boston and Chicago. In 1984, she became assistant administrator of the order's retirement home in Silver Creek.

She is survived by nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

A funeral Mass was celebrated in the chapel of St. Columban's on the Lake.