Sister Margaret Taney died Oct. 4, 2015, in St. Elizabeth Motherhouse in Allegany, at age 87.

Margaret Mary Taney was born Feb. 13, 1928, in Maple Shade, N.J., to James Joseph and Margaret Theresa (Flynn) Taney of Bellmawr, N.J. She graduated from Cathedral High School in Camden, N.J. in 1947 and joined the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany the following year, professing her final vows on 1955. She went on to serve the order for over 65 years.

Sister Margaret attended St. Elizabeth Teachers' College, now part of St. Bonaventure University, and received a bachelor's degree in elementary education while completing ministry assignments.

In the summers of 1973 and 1975, Sister Margaret completed programs in theology at Grace House in Alden and St. Francis Hall in Allegany, after which she taught students at elementary schools in New York as well as Florida, Georgia, New Jersey and North Carolina. In 1994, Sister Margaret began serving as a food service manager at St. Mary of the Angels Convent in Haddonfield, N.J., retiring in 2002. In 2003, she returned to the order's motherhouse in Allegany.

She is survived by a nephew, James B. Taney, and his family in Greensboro, N.C.

A funeral Mass was held in the chapel of St. Elizabeth Motherhouse, with burial in St. Bonaventure Cemetery.