Ossining, N.Y., April 22, 2026 ── Sister Rita Kane, M.M., a Maryknoll Sister of 82 years known for her wisdom and kindness, died on March 25, 2026. She was 105.

Sr. Rita was born on Sept. 11, 1920, to James and Marie Seidel Kane in Sterling, Illinois. She was one of eight children, and is predeceased by four brothers and two sisters. Her surviving sister, Joan, lives in Sterling, Illinois.

Sr. Rita graduated from Sterling’s Catholic Community High School in 1938 and entered Maryknoll on Sept. 6, 1944. She took her First Vows on March 7, 1947, and Final Vows on the same date three years later. That same year, Sr. Rita received a Bachelor of Education from Maryknoll Teachers College.

In her first assignment, Sr. Rita taught in New York City’s Chinatown. After one year, she was assigned to the Hawaii Region, where she would serve for the next 57 years. She taught elementary students in Kalihi and Maui, before an assignment in 1953 at the Maui Children’s Home, where she built deep connections with children in need until its closing in 1965. Sr. Rita’s next mission brought her to the service of troubled youth as a juvenile probation officer with Hawaii’s Family Court. In 1980, Sr. Rita joined the staff at a shelter for abused women and children, where she empowered them and connected them to community resources. After working with Maryknoll’s Mission Institute Program, Sr. Rita returned to Hawaii’s Waianae Coast in Nanakuli in 1998, offering counseling sessions to the native Hawaiian community through Child and Family Services.

In addition to her work in communities, Sr. Rita served on the Regional Governing Board twice, was elected as a delegate to the 1984 General Chapter and helped create the Diocesan Sisters Council. She also served on an Interfaith Urban Task Force, the Campaign for Human Development and the Hawaii Council of Churches.

Sr. Rita returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in 2007, where she continued volunteer work and sharing her kindness and generosity with the Sister community until her passing.

A wake for Sr. Rita was held on April 9, 2026, in the Annunciation Chapel of the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, N.Y. A Memorial Mass was said on April 10, 2026, also in the Annunciation Chapel.