Aston, PA—Sister Margaret Bonner, OSF (formerly Sister Aloysia), 94, died in Assisi House on March 12. She had been a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 73 years. Sister Margaret was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, but later moved to Drexel Hill where she was a member of St. Vincent Parish and a graduate of West Catholic High School. She entered the congregation in 1940 and professed her first vows in 1942. Sister Margaret studied nursing at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and later earned a B.S. in Nursing from the Catholic University of America. She also earned an M.S in Nursing Education from St. John’s University and a Masters in Public Health from the University of South Carolina. She ministered primarily in healthcare and in nursing education.
Sister Margaret ministered in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for 60 years, initially at St. Elizabeth School where she taught from 1941-1943. She worked at St. Agnes Hospital from 1948-1958 and again from 1959-1965. During those years she served first as a nursing supervisor, then as assistant director and eventually as director of the school of nursing. From 1974-1983 she served as associate administrator at St. Mary Hospital in Philadelphia. Sister Margaret ministered for 33 years at Neumann University (1971-1974, 1983-1984, 1986-2015), first as an instructor in the nursing department and later as a volunteer. In 2015 Sister Margaret moved to Assisi House, the congregation’s retirement residence in Aston.
Additional ministry experience included serving as the director of personnel development at St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware (1966-1970). In the Diocese of Trenton Sister Margaret ministered at St. Michael Home in Hopewell (1943-1944) and as a nursing instructor at St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing (1965-1966). She also worked as a pastoral associate at Holy Ghost Parish in Bethlehem from 1984-1986.
All services will be held in Assisi House, 600 Red Hill Road, Aston, Pennsylvania, 19014 on Wednesday, March 18. A Christian Wake Service will be held at 9:30 A.M. followed by viewing. Mass of Christian Burial at will be at 11 A.M. Burial will be in Our Lady of Angels Cemetery in Aston. Sister Margaret is survived by her brother, Dan Bonner, her nieces and nephews, and by her Franciscan family. Donations in her name can be made to the Sisters of St. Francis Foundation, 609 S. Convent Road, Aston, PA 19014.
