MARLBOROUGH Sister Francis Viola Buckley, RGS, Contemplative of the Good Shepherd, died Monday, April 20, 2009 at Good Shepherd Center, Marlborough, after an illness. She was 94 years of age and had been a Contemplative Sister of the Good Shepherd for 73 years. A native of Scituate, R.I., she was the daughter of the late Louis and Eva (Harrington) Buckley. She attended St. Charles High School, and in 1936, she entered the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Providence, R.I., a community with a lifestyle where the Sisters spent hours in prayer and activities suited to the cloistered life. Sister Francis was also one of the founders of this Providence community. She professed her First Vows on July 22, 1939, and was assigned to the Sewing and Altar Bread Departments. In 1946, she was missioned to Brooklyn, N.Y., and in 1963, to Huntington, N.Y. In 1999, due to failing health, she was missioned to the Good Shepherd Center in Marlborough, for a ministry of prayer. She was known for her sense of humor, her kindness to others and her deep spirit of prayer. Sister Francis is survived by a nephew, Leonard Buckley, a niece, Eva Lee Cox, both of California, and several grandnieces and grandnephews. She was predeceased by her sister, a Franciscan Sister, Estelle Buckley, OSF, from St. Elizabeth Mother House in Allegany, N.Y. Visiting hours will be held Wednesday, April 22, from 4 to 8 p.m., at Good Shepherd Center, 406 Hemenway St., Marlborough, with a Prayer Service at 7 p.m. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated by Fr. Robert Rivard on Thursday, April 23, at 10 a.m., at Good Shepherd Center Chapel in Marlborough. Burial will follow in Mt. Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury. Expressions of sympathy in Sister Francis memory may be made to the Good Shepherd Retirement Fund, 406 Hemenway St., Marlborough, MA 01752. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Fitzgerald & Collins Funeral Home, 378 Lincoln St., Marlborough. All are welcome to sign Sister Francis guestbook at www.SFCFH.com. Sisters of the Good Shepherd, a worldwide Congregation, were founded in France by St. Mary Euphrasia in 1935. They came to Boston in 1867, to Marlborough in 1964 and to Harwich in 1993.