BARLING, Ark. — Sister Mary Lucita Barthes, RSM, who lived at McAuley Convent in Barling, Ark., died Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011. She was 79.

Sister Lucita was baptized Mary Rita Barthes. She was born in 1931 in Biloxi. She entered the Sisters of Mercy at Webster Groves in St. Louis on Sept. 8, 1948.

She taught at schools in Mississippi from 1951 to 1968. She then did office work at Mercy Hospital in Vicksburg and retired at McAuley Home in Vicksburg in 1986. In December 1999, she moved to Our Lady of Wisdom Health Care Center in New Orleans. She moved to McAuley Convent in Barling in September 2005.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Patrick James and Lucille Henrietta Barthes; and sisters, Julia Dearmon, Cleo Barthes Dopson, Nona Barthes Hill and Lucille Barthes Le Febvre.

Survivors include two nephews, Larry Dearmon and Mike Dopson; and two nieces, Kathryn Tomoschik and Lauren Christovich.

Services were at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at McAuley Convent Chapel. Burial followed at Calvary Cemetery in Fort Smith, Ark., under the direction of Fentress Mortuary in Fort Smith.

Online guestbook may be signed at www.fentressmortuary.com.