Sr. Eileen Kosel

Little Falls, Minnesota............Sister Eileen Kosel, 90, died on October 28, 2018, at St. Francis Convent, Little Falls, Minn.

Eileen Mary, the second of 10 children, was born to the late Frank and Agnes (Slivnik) Kosel on August 5, 1928, in St. Cloud, Minn. Life began for Eileen on a farm in St. Stephen. She attended the district school in St. Stephen for the first grade and half of second grade. The family moved to St. Cloud and Eileen was enrolled at St. Anthonys School where she was taught by Benedictine Sisters.

After grade school, Eileen attended Cathedral High School. She remembered well the day that Sister Mary Eve Goering, a Franciscan Sister from Little Falls, came to Cathedral to speak about religious life. Sister Mary Eve was the first Franciscan Eileen had ever seen. Eileen entered St. Francis Convent on September 1, 1946. She was accepted into the novitiate on August 12, 1947, and given the religious name, Sister Mary Charles. She made her final vows on August 12, 1952. She returned to her baptismal name in 1969. She was a Franciscan Sister for 71 years.

Sister Eileen was a registered medical record librarian and ministered at St. Gabriels Hospital, Little Falls; St. Michaels Hospital, Sauk Centre; St. Josephs Hospital, Dodgeville, Wis.; and Trinity Memorial Hospital, Cudahy, Wis. She served as Community Secretary from 19761984. She also ministered as secretary, receptionist and clerical assistant in St. Cloud, Elk River and St. Paul, Minn. In 2001 she moved to Mercy Manor Apartments in Albany, Minn.

Sister Eileen was friendly and hospitable as she interacted with people and was truly a sister to them. She was grateful for the many opportunities she was given for spiritual and personal growth by her Franciscan Community.

Sister Eileen was preceded in death by her sisters-in-law, Ann Marie (Frank) and Mary Alice (Frank). Survivors include siblings: Winifred (Vernon) Nieland, Marshalltown, Iowa; Frank, Omaha, Nebr.; Marcel (Patricia), St. Joseph; Robert (Elizabeth), Lancaster, Calif.; Eugene (Linda), Bismarck, N. Dak.; Patrick (Ruth), St. Cloud; Thomas (Sharon), Mounds View; David (Shannon Shaughnessy), St. Cloud; and Karen (Thomas) Lundgren, Minneapolis; nieces, nephews and her Franciscan Community.

A Mass of Christian Burial will take place at St. Francis Convent on Saturday, November 3, at 11 a.m. Friends may call at St. Francis Convent on Friday, November 2, from 4-8 p.m., with a Franciscan prayer service at 7 p.m., and from 8:30 a.m. until the time of the funeral on Saturday at 11 a.m. Arrangements are by Emblom-Brenny Funeral Service, Little Falls.

Donations to Franciscan Sisters ministries preferred.