Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Marie Shields, 81, died Dec. 31 in Cincinnati.

Born in Chicago, she was in her 64th year of religious life.

Sister Marie taught in mostly inner-city parish schools in Ohio for 14 years. She later served for 51 years in Columbus, Ohio, doing parish ministry.

Sister Marie loved her work, and the parishioners loved her. She sparked parish support for a local food pantry and homeless shelter, for farm projects in Ghana and Ecuador and for national social justice groups like Network, Pax Christi and Bread for the World. She started an initiative to collect new clothes for people who needed them and connected the parishioners to the work of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur around the world.

She retired in 2019.