Sister Marie Charles, executive director of the Carondelet Community Betterment Federation for 30 years before her retirement in 2007, died Jan. 31 at Nazareth Living Center in south St. Louis County. She was 93.

In a 2001 article in the St. Louis Review, Sister Marie Charles compared the federation to the charism of her congregation. “The love of God and love of neighbor,” she said. “We do direct services — that’s part of our life. So it fits right in with what we’re really about.”

She received one of the first Spirit of St. Alexius awards for her service to the community and has a riverfront park named in her honor. Sister Marie Charles said her favorite part of the job was “being able to help people who are in need.”

Born in Fredericktown, Mo., and baptized Jane Marie, she studied business and economics at Fontbonne College in St. Louis. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1946 and made final profession in 1952. Sister Marie Charles served as an accountant at St. Joseph Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., from 1949-52. For the next four years, she was a teacher at St. Joseph’s Academy and Rosati-Kain High School in St. Louis, then at a school in Denver.

After a brief period of working on the staff in the Sisters of St. Joseph’s treasurer’s office, she worked on the administrative staff at Fontbonne College. Other assignments included clerical work at hospitals in Michigan and Kansas City, Mo., and a school in Illinois. From 1967 -77, she served as provincialate secretary for the Sisters of St. Joseph in St. Louis.

In 1977, Sister Marie Charles began as executive director of the Carondelet Community Betterment Federation, which at first was a one-person operation, working out of the motherhouse library. She made a difference for countless people in the Carondelet neighborhood. “To be able to have an emphasis on the local neighborhood was a real blessing to me and a real call from the Lord, and I feel good about that,” she said.

Her work at the federation included overseeing St. Joseph Center, an outreach to the needy operated in conjunction with Catholic Family Services. It offered family assistance, a Christmas program, emergency food and clothing, a health outreach, home visits to the elderly, utility assistance and other programs.

In 2007, Sister Marie Charles moved to Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, while still writing grants for federation. In 2009, she officially retired.