MARLBOROUGH - Sister Cecilia Dooley, RGS, 90, of Marlborough died Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at Bethany Health Care Center in Framingham after a short illness. She had been a Contemplative Sister of the Good Shepherd for 70 years.  Sr. Cecilia was born in Manhattan in 1912, the daughter of John and Anne (Dunn) Dooley. She attended St. Gabriel's School in New York City and then spent a few years in the workplace before entering the Novitiate of the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Peekskill, N.Y. in 1942.  She made her first profession in 1945 and her final profession of vows in 1955. The Contemplative Community is devoted to a life of prayer and work, serving as a "powerhouse" of prayer for the apostolic ministries of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd as well as the needs of all God's people.  The baking and distribution of altar bread was an important part of the Contemplative way of life, and Sr. Cecilia spent many years in this ministry in Peekskill, Hartford, Conn., and Trenton, N.J.  She was also an excellent seamstress.  Sr. Cecilia had a great love of her congregation and she was beloved by so many of her sisters.  She served as local leader in Peekskill, Trenton, and Marlborough.  She was a woman of wisdom and great integrity -a true wisdom figure in the community.  After Vatican II Sister Cecilia was chosen to serve on an international committee whose task was to rewrite the Constitutions for the Contemplative Sisters as they updated their way of life.

Sr. Cecilia is survived by many loving nieces and nephews and was the sister of the late James, William and Sylvester Dooley, Mary Maher, Sarah DeBold and Anna Dooley.

A  Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated for Sr. Cecilia Saturday, April 6, at 10 a.m., at Good Shepherd Center Chapel, 406 Hemenway Street, Marlborough, with burial to follow in Mt. Benedict Cemetery, West Roxbury. Calling hours will be held Friday, April 5 from 4 to 8 p.m., at Good Shepherd Center, with a Prayer Service at 7 p.m. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Fitzgerald & Collins Funeral Home, 378 Lincoln Street, Marlborough. All are invited to sign Sr. Cecilia's online guestbook at www.CollinsFuneral.com .  Expressions of sympathy in memory of Sr. Cecilia may be made to the Good Shepherd Retirement Fund, 406 Hemenway Street, Marlborough, MA 01752.  The Sisters of the Good Shepherd, a worldwide congregation, was founded in France by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in 1835, in Boston in 1867, in Marlborough in 1964 and in Harwichport, 1993.