Sister Owen Marie McArdle, OSF, of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis died on April 8 at St. Francis Convent in Springfield. She was 86 years old.
Sister Owen Marie, the former Barbara Maureen McArdle, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 19, 1934, the daughter of Francis and Barbara Reulbach McArdle. She entered the congregation on Sept. 8, 1953 and professed her religious vows on June 13, 1956.
Sister Owen Marie earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from St. Louis University in 1975 and completed her clinical pastoral education in 1993.
Sister Owen Marie ministered in the Dietary Department at St. Francis Convent in Springfield, at HSHS St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield, at HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Highland, at Our Lady of the Ozarks in Carthage, Mo., and at St. Clara’s Hospital in Lincoln. She served as a nurse’s aide and a registered nurse at hospitals in Illinois and Missouri. She later cared for the sisters in Loretto Home, served in Home Health at HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Highland, and at Alverna Home Nursing in Chicago. After completing her clinical pastoral education, Sister Owen Marie ministered as a hospital chaplain at HSHS St. John’s Hospital. She volunteered at a local nursing home and at St. James Parish in Riverton.
She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers, Neil and Owen McArdle.
She is survived by her Franciscan Sisters with whom she shared her life for over 67 years.
Private services were held on April 13. Staab Funeral Home-Springfield was in charge of arrangements.