Obituary: Sister Margaret Dolores Kehoe, 91

Sister Margaret Dolores Kehoe— a social worker, prison ministry worker and mentor of Maryknoll seminarians—passed away on June 25 at the Maryknoll Sisters Residential Care IV in Ossining at age 91.

Kehoe, who had been a Maryknoll Sister for 72 years, was born on Oct. 30 in Ohio to Peter and Catherine Malloy Kehoe as one of seven children. 

Her peers knew her for her gentle kindness.

She entered the Maryknoll Sisters on July 2, 1940 at the Motherhouse in Ossining and was given the religious name of Sister M. Francis Damien, six months later.

Kehoe was a social worker and conducted missionary work in Peru, Chicago, Hawaii, Bolivia, California and New Mexico. She returned to the U.S. in 1993 to work in prison and pastoral ministry in New Mexico until 1997 and then worked with foster parents in New Mexico from 1997-1999. 

She also worked at the Maryknoll Sisters residence in Monrovia, CA providing food, temporary shelter and other services to low income families and to help students with their English. 

Kehoe once told a reporter of that she works with the needy in a way that reaffirms “their value as human persons who can develop solutions from their own resources,” according to her obituary. 

A Vesper service will be held on Monday, July 1 at 4:15 p.m., followed by a mass of Christian burial at 11 a.m. on July 2.  Both will be held in the Annunciation Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining. Burial will be in the Maryknoll Sisters cemetery at Maryknoll, NY.

The following obituary is from Dorsey Funeral Home, 14 Emwilton Pl. in Ossining, (914) 941-0167.