Sister Marie Colette Rutkowski, (formerly Sister M. Inviolata) died peacefully on May 3, 2018, at St. Francis Park in the 83rd year of life and the 61st year of religious life.

Marie Colette Rutkowski was born on March 1, 1935 in Danville, Pa., to Leon and Monika (Yancoski) Rutkowski. On Jan. 6, 1956, she became a postulant and on Aug. 2, 1960, Sister Marie Colette professed her final vows.

Sister Marie Colette received a bachelor's degree in Education from Holy Family College in Torresdale, Pa. Throughout her 61 years of religious life, she served primarily as a teacher and as a health care aide. As a teacher she served at St. Joseph, North Tonawanda; Most Precious Blood, Angola; St. Stanislaus, Baltimore; St. Stephen, Shamokin, Pa.; and Mater Dolorosa, Holyoke, Mass. Sister Marie Colette also fulfilled her desire to help the infirmed by serving as an aide at Immaculate Conception Convent in Hamburg and St. Clare Manor in Lockport. She also served for several years at St. Anthony Home for the Aged in Hamburg. She then took some time to care for her father before returning to active ministry. Sister's final years of active ministry were offered in service to her fellow sisters through various convent ministries before joining her sisters in the Care Community in 2005 where she continued to serve in the ministry of prayer and presence.

The Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph taught Sister Marie Colette at St. Stephen Parish in Shamokin, Pa. She followed in the footsteps of her sister, the late Sister Rosetta Rutkowski, FSSJ, and her aunts, the late Sister Geraldine Rutkowski, FSSJ and the late Sister Joanette Rutkowski, FSSJ, in joining the community.

A funeral Mass took place at the Sister's Chapel on May 8. Burial followed at St. Stanislaus Cemetery, Cheektowaga.