ASTON, Pa. — Sister Agnes Bonner, a Wilmington native who grew up in St. Joseph on the Brandywine Parish, died Dec. 13 at Jefferson Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia. She was 99 and had been a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 78 years.
Sister Agnes, formerly Sister Catherine Michael, graduated from Alexis I. duPont High School in Greenville and entered the congregation in 1942, professing first vows two years later. She ministered primarily in secondary education and social service.
She spent 29 years in her home Diocese of Wilmington. She ministered in social services as the manager of the Emmanuel Dining Room for four years and as a receptionist at St. Francis Hospital for 10 years. Beginning in 2003 she served at Nativity Prep School for 12 years, first as a receptionist, then as a volunteer.
Sister Agnes also worked as a teacher in the archdioceses of Philadelphia and Baltimore, and also the dioceses of Harrisburg and Allentown, Pa., and Trenton, N.J., primarily in science. She served in house ministry at Our Lady of Angels Convent in Aston and volunteered with the American Cancer Society, and she spent two years at St. Mary’s Children’s Home in Fall River, Mass.
Services will be held Dec. 21 at Assisi House and will be livestreamed. A Christian wake service will begin at 9:30 a.m., followed by a viewing, then the Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. Burial will be in Our Lady of Angels Cemetery. Donations in her name can be made to the Sisters of St. Francis Foundation, 609 S. Convent Road, Aston, PA 19014.
