MARRIOTTSVILLE, Md. — Sister Katherine Ann Durney, a member of the Congregation of Bon Secours, died July 23 at Marian Hall in Marriottsville, Md., the retirement home for the Sisters of Bon Secours, USA. She was 97.
Sister Kay, as she was known, was born in 1923 in Wilmington. She attended St. Thomas the Apostle and other schools and graduated from Wilmington High School. She also graduated from the St. Francis School of Nursing in Wilmington and was a registered nurse when she entered the Congregation of Bon Secours in 1946.
During her career, Sister Katherine served as an operating room and night supervisor at Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore; director of nursing and assistant administrator at Villa Maria Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Miami, Fla.; and assistant administrator in Bon Secours Hospital in Grosse Pointe, Mich.
In 1987, she became a certified pastoral care chaplain, and for several years ministered to patients and residents in the Bon Secours Nursing Care Center in Ellicott City, Md. She also served in Virginia as chaplain at Bon Secours DePaul Hospital and Provincial Place of Norfolk.
After retiring in 2000, Sister Katherine volunteered at Bon Secours Assisted Living facility in Norfolk before moving to Marriottsville.
She was president of the board of trustees of Bon Secours Hospital in Grosse Pointe in the early 1960s and president of the board of trustees at Villa Maria from 1975-85. Sister Katherine also served as a provincial councilor for the Sisters of Bon Secours and as a member of the Sponsorship Task Force. She was also a member of the board of directors of Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore and Bon Secours Housing Inc.
She celebrated her 75th year of religious life in 2021 and said, “My community has always been a source of strength and inspiration to me and has given me many opportunities to grow spiritually and professionally. My primary life source has been and continues to be prayer.”
A wake service will be held July 28 at the Sisters of Bon Secours Chapel, 1525 Marriottsville Road, Mariottsville, followed by a Mass. Burial will take place in Richmond, Va., on Aug. 4 at Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Richmond, Va. Sister Katherine wished to be buried next to her biological sister, Sister Elizabeth Durney, also a Sister of Bon Secours.
Donations in her name can be made to the Sisters of Bon Secours Community Fund, 1525 Mariottsville Road, Mariottsville, MD 21104.
