Sr. Mary Cecilia Eagen, SC, died Nov. 17 at Mother Margaret Hall, the nursing facility of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. She was 89.

Born Dorothy Ann Eagen on Aug. 5, 1921, in Smith’s Creek, she was the daughter of Earl J. and Alma (Crimmins) Eagen.

She became a registered nurse in 1944 from St. Joseph Hospital, Mount Clemens, where she first had contact with Sisters of Charity. She went on to earn bachelor’s degrees in science and in nursing from the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati; a master’s in nursing administration from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and a doctorate from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Sr. Eagen served as pediatric nursing supervisor at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton, Ohio (1947-54), before moving to Pueblo, Colo., to serve in the same position at St. Mary Hospital as it became St. Mary-Corwin Hospital (1954-60).

In 1967, she became the director of nursing at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, where she served for two years until returning to St. Joseph Hospital in Mount Clemens in the same capacity.

In the 1970s, Sr. Eagen became increasingly interested in hospice care, a field that had intrigued her since her days as a student nurse. In 1974, she became a professor at Madonna University in Livonia. There she worked to design the first bachelor’s degree program, then the master’s degree program, in hospice education.

She had written her doctoral dissertation on the subject and was the first to receive a doctorate in hospice from the University of Michigan.

For more than 20 years, Sr. Eagen served as director of hospice education for Madonna’s College of Nursing and Health. She helped create the Michigan Hospice Nurses Association (MHNA) and the Academy of Hospice Nurses, an international organization where she also served as president. At that time, she traveled most of Europe and the Holy Land. She lectured in Nazareth and London.

In 1995 Sr. Eagen was awarded the ‘Educator of the Year’ award from the Michigan Hospice Organization. She was awarded the ‘Mother Seton Award’ from the Leadership Council of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati in 1997. In 2002, she was named professor emeritus by Madonna.

In 2000, she retired and was an active volunteer, giving her time to the Capuchin soup kitchen, in Detroit, and she visited the sick and needy, as well.

Sr. Eagen also gave workshops and lectures on hospice education and served on the Karmonos Hospice Advisory Board, Southfield.

In May 2005, she moved to Mother Margaret Hall at the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse in Mount St. Joseph, Ohio.”

Her friend of many years, Sr. Mary Alberta Bodde, remembered, “Sr. Mary Cecilia was so dedicated to her nursing profession that she would often greet anyone coming to visit with, ‘What can I do for you?’ A very compassionate woman, she was most thrilled and proud of the hospice program that she was able to develop.”

Sr. Eagen was preceded in death by her brothers Martin, Lawrence, Joseph, Frank and Patrick; and her sister, Eleanor Howard. Her sister, Madeline O’Connor, and many nieces and nephews survive her.

A funeral Mass was celebrated Nov. 23 in the Immaculate Conception Chapel at the motherhouse. Burial was in the Sisters of Charity cemetery.

Memorials to Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Retirement Fund, 5900 Delhi Road, Mount St. Joseph, Ohio 45051.