Sister Regina Lanahan, a Baltimore native and professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 64 years, died Nov. 27 at age 87 in Aston, Pa. A funeral Mass was offered Dec. 5 at Assisi House there.
Born Myrtle Regina, she was raised in St. Ann Parish in Baltimore and graduated from Seton High School. She earned her R.N. from St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing in 1952; her bachelor’s degree in nursing from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1959; and her master’s degree in nursing from Villanova University in 1960. She ministered primarily in nursing/healthcare and administration in several Pennsylvania dioceses, and received numerous awards for her work in the healthcare field.
Sister Regina ministered for 10 years in the Diocese of Harrisburg as vice president of mission and ministry and later as a volunteer in the archives at St. Joseph Hospital in Lancaster; in the Diocese of Allentown, she served seven years as the director of nursing at St. Joseph Hospital in Reading; for four years was administrator of St. Francis Hospital in the Diocese of Wilmington, Del.; and ministered for 22 years in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, including as supervisor at St. Mary’s Hospital in Philadelphia.
Additional ministry included serving as provincial for the congregation for seven years in the former Southern Province within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
