Sister Patricia McAlpin, who was attracted to the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore by their ministry with African American orphans and served in several ministries in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, died Jan. 14 at St. Francis Convent in St. Francis, Wisc.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., she entered the community in 1959 and was given the name Sister Mary William when she became a novice. After Vatican II, she returned to her baptismal name. Sister Patricia taught elementary grades at schools in Richmond, Norfolk and Danville, Va.; and Harlem and Yonkers, N.Y., before moving to Baltimore in 1991.
She was co-director and then director of Francis House, a Franciscan volunteer program in Baltimore, where men and women lived in community and worked with the poor. She also worked part-time at the Marriage Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and helped at the Franciscan Center. While at Francis House, Sister Patricia was elected for a term on the Council of the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore.
In 2001, the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore merged with the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, whose motherhouse is in Saint Francis, Wisconsin. Sister Patricia moved to Milwaukee in 2009, and ministered in retirement as a volunteer. As her health declined, she spent her last weeks in hospice at St. Francis Convent.
According to an obituary prepared by her order, Sister Pat was “dedicated to community and ministry” and “could be found working with others on the daily crossword puzzle from the newspaper, working on a jigsaw puzzle or playing cards in the evening. She was always up for travel when the opportunity presented itself, and she enjoyed interacting with her grandnieces/nephews over the years.”
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