Sister Jane Ann Kiefer

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Sister Jane Ann Kiefer, OSF, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Wheaton, Illinois, and a former resident of Cape Girardeau, passed away Tuesday, March 8, 2022, at St. Patrick's Residence in Naperville.

Born in Oran, Missouri, Jan. 21, 1928, the daughter of Theodore M. "Ted" and Bernadine "Dena" Eftink Kiefer, she was one of eight children. She attended Guardian Angel Catholic Church and Grade School in Oran and graduated from Oran High School.

Sister Jane worked in the clerical department at Western Electric, supplier of Bell Telephone, in St. Louis until age 20. She entered the Franciscan Sisters in November 1948, professing her final vows in May 1954. She attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she received a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1957 and began work in administration for the Franciscan Sisters' Hospitals. She later attended St. Louis University, where she earned a master's degree in social work in 1972.

In September 1976, Sister Jane was assigned to Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, where she started the medical social work department. In 1985 she transferred to pastoral care, where she remained until her retirement in 1998. She continued serving the medical center as a volunteer until November 2015. She moved to the Wheaton Franciscan Motherhouse in Wheaton in 2019.

Survivors include one sister, Sister Helen Kiefer of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ; many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Sister Jane was preceded in death by her parents; her sisters, Adela Trost, Ethel Massmann, Rita Hinkebien and an infant sister, Mary Emma; and two brothers, Theodore A. and Paul J. Kiefer.

She would like to be remembered as a Franciscan and a daughter of Mother M. Clara Pfaender.

Private services will be held at Our Lady of the Angels Chapel in Wheaton. A memory service will be from 4 to 5 p .m. Monday.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Both services may be viewed via livestream by accessing the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters website at www.wheatonfranciscan.org. Burial will be at Assumption Cemetery in Wheaton.

Memorial contributions may be given to the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters or to the Sister Esther Fund at Saint Francis Medical Center.

Williams-Kampp Funeral Homes in Wheaton is in charge of arrangements.