Sister Kathleen (Mary Janice) Egan, OSB, 102, a Benedictine sister of Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kans., died Thursday, August 24, 2017, at the monastery. The vigil service will be Sunday, 27 Aug, at 7 p.m. in the monastery chapel, and the Mass of Resurrection and the Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated there Monday, August 28 at 10:30 a.m.

Sister Kathleen was born in Wales, England, to Jeremiah and Mary Agnes Ahern-O’Sullivan Egan on March 13, 1915. The family moved to New York in 1927. After four years as a social worker in New York City, she entered the Mount community in 1941. She served over 50 years at Mount St. Scholastica College, which became Benedictine College, as a professor of speech and drama and later college librarian. She retired from Benedictine College as professor emerita in 1971, and in 1980, received the Offeramus Award, an honor bestowed by the college on an outstanding alumna.

She and her sister Eileen were friends of St. Teresa of Calcutta; together they wrote three books about her. A friend also of Dorothy Day, Sister Kathleen started several initiatives for the poor of Atchison and beyond. She belonged to professional associations and peace organizations and was a charter member of the American Benedictine Academy. She affirmed the gifts of others and was able to draw out gifts they did not believe they had. Among her students was Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai. Her polite gentle approach was tenacious and persistent in matters of peacemaking and of justice for the poor.

Sister Kathleen was preceded in death by her parents, by her brothers James and Brother John Mark, F.C.F., and her sister Eileen Egan. She is survived by her sister Mabel Gil, Albany, N.Y., brother Jerome Egan, New York, N.Y., nieces and nephews, and her monastic family. Becker-Dyer-Stanton Funeral Home (www.beckerdyer.com) is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be sent to Mount St. Scholastica or made online at the Mount’s web site (www.mountosb.org).