Sr. Irene A. Radtke M.A. ’86, age 85, of Bridgeton, Mo., a Franciscan Sister of Mary for more than 60 years, passed away on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. She was born on Nov. 24, 1928, in Mineral Point, Wis., the daughter of Ernest and Mary Lylith (Gedye) Radtke. After graduating from St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in Madison, she worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Dodgeville until she entered the Sisters of St. Mary (SSM) on Aug. 12, 1953. She was known as Sr. Mary De Montfort until resuming her baptismal name later. In 1987, the SSM reunited with the Sisters of St. Francis of Maryville, Mo., as the Franciscan Sisters of Mary (FSM). She earned a BSN from St. Louis University (1959), a master’s degree in hospital and health administration from the University of Iowa, Iowa City (1972), and an M.A. in counseling from Santa Clara University, Calif. (1986). She served as a nurse and nursing supervisor at SSM hospitals for many years and as executive director of St. Clare Hospital, Baraboo, and St. Mary’s Hospital, Kansas City, Mo., and associate executive director of Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, St. Louis, Mo. In 1993, she founded Almost Home in St. Louis, providing transitional housing and education for homeless mothers under 18 and their children; she was executive director until 2002. Sr. Irene was preceded in death by her parents and brother, William. She is survived by her sister, Marjorie Beer of Sterling, Ill., and sister-in-law, Betty Radtke of Oregon, Wis.