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Sister Mary Frances Kobets, M.M., who served 36 years as a missioner to Zimbabwe, died June 29 in Gweru, Zimbabwe. She was 76.
Sister Fran taught agriculture at the Teachers’ College in Zimbabwe, and she became the head of its agriculture department and supervisor in the farm and production unit, 1982-1989. In 2001, she founded the organization Orphans Education and Agriculture Support, which helps HIV/AIDS orphans and children at risk in the African nation.
Her first overseas assignment was in Makoko, Tanzania.
Born in Kansas City, Mo., she entered the Maryknoll Sisters in 1959 and professed final vows in 1968.
A Funeral Mass was offered July 2 at the Driefontein Mission in Gweru, where burial followed. A Memorial Mass was held July 21 in Annunciation Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining.
