MOUNTAIN VIEW, Mo. — The halls of Mercy St. Francis hospital in Mountain View have been somber this week after news of the death of the beloved nun who served as the hospital’s administrator for 42 years.
Sister Cornelia Blasko passed away in Illinois on Wednesday, October 30 at the age of 94.
Sister Cornelia first arrived in Mountain View with five other Daughters of St. Francis after receiving a letter from the local priest, asking them to help reopen a hospital that had been closed for four years. They accepted the challenge and traveled by bus from Lacon, Illinois, to Mountain View.
From there, they worked overtime for a month to clean, sterilize, and paint the building that became St. Francis Hospital, now Mercy St. Francis.
“She will forever be remembered for the legacy she left here at Mercy St. Francis Hospital and the community of Mountain View,” said Cindy Weatherford, current administrator at Mercy St. Francis. “While we are saddened to hear of this loss, we are also thankful to know that she is now safely in the arms of her Lord, who she spent her lifetime serving.”
In November of 2012, at the age of 87, Sister Cornelia was transported from Mountain View by helicopter to a nursing home in Illinois operated by the Daughters of St. Francis. That is where she passed on Wednesday, October 30.
“We knew she continued to pray for us,” Weatherford said. “We could feel her prayers and have continued to be guided by her presence from afar.”
Sister Cornelia’s funeral mass will be held on Saturday, November 2 at the Daughters of St. Francis Mother House Convent in Lacon, Illinois.
Memorials can be directed to the nursing home run by the Daughters of St. Francis of Assisi, where Sister Cornelia passed:
St. Joseph Nursing Home
401 9th St.
Lacon, IL 61540
