Sister M. Paulette Collings, O.S.F.

Sister M. Paulette Collings, O.S.F. of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis died on Friday, January 22, 2016 at 4:30 a.m. at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Illinois. Sister M. Paulette, the former Martha Rita Collings, was born in Newton, Illinois on October 1, 1924, the daughter of Clarence and Jennie Marie Ochs Collings. She entered the Congregation on February 2, 1946 and professed her religious vows on October 4, 1948. Sister was a graduate of St. John's Hospital School of Nursing in 1951. She earned a BSN from Marquette University in 1958 and an MBA from Xavier University in 1966. Sister served as a surgical nurse and surgical nursing instructor for 13 years. Upon completion of her MBA, she assumed the role of administrator of HSHS hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin and a nursing home in Louisiana from 1966 to 1982. Sister was a Fellow in the American College of Hospital Administrators for many years. She was elected Provincial of the American Province of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis in 1982 and served until 1988 when she was elected to the General Council of the Community and served in Muenster, Germany for six years. In 1994, she returned to the Motherhouse in Springfield, Illinois, where she continued to be involved in various roles and responsibilities with her Franciscan Sisters. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by three brothers: Orville L. Collings, Clarence E. Collings, and Delbert J. Collings; and two sisters, Juanita J. Anderson and Beatrice M. Coon. She is survived by two brothers: Ray A. Collings of Mattoon, Illinois, and John W. Collings of Robinson, Illinois; a sister: Dorothy Briggs of Bridgeton, Missouri; several nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews; as well as her Franciscan Sisters with whom she shared her life for nearly 70 years. Visitation: A visitation will be held at St. Francis Convent on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 from 4:00 7:00 p.m. with a Wake Service at 6:00 p.m. The Eucharistic Celebration and Rite of Christian Burial: 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at St. Clare of Assisi Adoration Chapel at St. Francis Convent, Springfield, Illinois with The Most Reverend Bishop Kevin W. Vann, J.C.D., D.D., presiding. Burial will be in Crucifixion Hill Cemetery.