Agnes Marner, who was widowed with five young children but rose to be director of nursing at the former St. Francis Hospital, died Feb. 6. The Shadyside resident was 83.

She was born Agnes Duda, the youngest of eight children. Graduating from St. Francis nursing school in 1946, she hesitated to take up with an ardent suitor, James Marner, because he was a bit younger and shorter. But his kindness after the untimely death of her sister sealed the romance and they married. When she was 42, with five children under 11, he died.

Relatives and neighbors -- including Edna Ryan, who said she would help out for two weeks and stayed 26 years -- stepped in. A newly ordained priest at Sacred Heart became like a big brother to the children and helped teach them all to drive.

"Agnes was a phenomenal woman. I think she had all the hard knocks of life and I never heard her complain about anything," said the former driving instructor, Bishop David Zubik of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

"She was an extraordinary role model for me of what it means to live charity."

She rose from emergency room nurse to supervisor to director of nursing. To earn the promotion, she earned a degree from La Roche College.

"When I was in high school, my mother was in college," said her youngest daughter, Trisha Murphy, of Bloomfield.

"She was a very intelligent, quiet, professional woman with a leadership way about her. The nurses at St. Francis would always say she was very fair and considerate of their circumstances. She knew from experience that other peoples' lives were complex."

In the 1970s she became one of the first lay eucharistic ministers in the diocese. After her 1994 retirement she ironed the altar linens and attended Mass daily with Mrs. Ryan.

In addition to Mrs. Murphy, she is survived by three other daughters, Karen and Betty Lou Marner, both of Shadyside, and Terry Fultz, of Wheeling, W.Va.; a son, James, of Westfield, N.J.; a brother, Albert Duda, of New Orleans; and seven grandchildren.

Visitation will be today from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. in McCabe Brothers Funeral Home, Shadyside, where services will begin at 9 a.m. tomorrow. A Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Sacred Heart Church.

Gifts may be made to Sacred Heart Parish, 310 Shady Ave., Pittsburgh 15206.