Obituary: Frances Ann Whelan

Frances Ann Whelan

1935-2015

With regret, the Board of Directors of the Roothbert Fund, Inc. announces the death of Frances A. Whelan, O. P. on 15 February 2015. A native of Duluth, Minnesota, Fran earned a B. S. degree in nursing from Mt. St. Vincent College in Riverdale, NY in 1958. She also received a M. S. W. degree from Fordham University in 1961, and a M. A. from Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, Purchase, NY, in 1967.

In 1952, Fran entered the novitiate of the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor, and made her final profession in 1957. In 1995, her order merged with two others to form the Dominican Sisters of Hope. For decades, she worked with the Dominican Sisters Family Health Service in Ossining, Peekskill, Hampton Bays, and New York City serving the sick poor.

In 1993, 1994 and 1995 Fran received grants from the Fund in support of her training in message therapy at the Swedish Institute. She was drawn to this ministry through her work with AIDS patients in the South Bronx.

In 1999, she was awarded a Fellow’s Project grant in support of the project, Empowering the Caregiver, run by the Dominican Sisters of Hope. A frequent guest at Fund gatherings and at Pendle Hill, Fran and her colleague Andrea Dixon facilitated the September 2013 weekend retreat on the topic of women religious in the Roman Catholic Church.

A memorial service for Fran will be held on Monday, 23 February, at 11 a.m. at The Ossining Center of Hope/Mariandale Retreat and Conference Center, 299 North Highland Ave., Ossining, NY.