Sister Francis Viola Buckley, RGS, Contemplative of the Good Shepherd, died Monday April 20, 2009 at Good Shepherd Center, Marlborough, after an illness. She was 94 years of age and had been a Contemplative Sister of the Good Shepherd for 73 years.

A native of Scituate, Rhode Island, she was the daughter of Louis and Eva (Harrington) Buckley. She attended St. Charles High School. In 1936, sister entered the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Providence, Rhode Island, a community with a lifestyle where the Sisters spent hours in prayer and activities suited to the cloistered life. Sister Francis was also one of the founders of this Providence community. She professed her First Vows on July 22, 1939. Sister was assigned to the Sewing and Altar Bread Departments. In 1946, she was missioned to Brooklyn, New York and in 1963 to Huntington, New York. In 1999, due to failing health, she was missioned to Good Shepherd Center in Marlborough, for a ministry of prayer. She was known for her sense of humor, her kindness to others and her deep spirit of prayer.

Sister Francis is survived by a nephew, Leonard Buckley, a niece, Eva Lee Cox both of California and several grand nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by her sister, a Franciscan Sister, Estelle Buckley, OSF from St. Elizabeth Mother House in Allegany, New York. Visiting hours at Good Shepherd Center, 406 Hemenway Street, Marlborough, Massachusetts will be held on April 22, 2009 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with a Prayer Service at 7:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Fr. Robert Rivard at Good Shepherd Center Chapel in Marlborough on April 23, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. Burial will follow in Mt. Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury. Expressions of sympathy in Sister Francis' memory may be made to the Good Shepherd Retirement Fund, 406 Hemenway Street, Marlborough, Massachusetts, 01752. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Fitzgerald & Collins Funeral Home, 378 Lincoln Street., Marlborough, Massachusetts. All are welcome to sign Sr. Viola's guestbook at www.SFCFH.com. Sisters of the Good Shepherd, a worldwide Congregation, were founded in France by St. Mary Euphrasia in 1835. They came to Boston in 1867, to Marlborough in 1964 and
to Harwich, MA in 1993.