Morris, Eileen Frances (Sr Mary Francis) (1919–93), Medical Missionary of Mary, and her twin sister, Peggy, were born 25 September 1919 at Powerstown, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, to Thomas A. Morris, merchant, and Margaret Morris (née O'Neill). They had a brother and a sister. After primary school Eileen Frances was educated at Our Lady's Bower, Athlone, 1933–6. She then did a course in shorthand and typing, and worked in various offices between 1939 and 1943. These were the years of the second world war, during which Eileen trained in Red Cross work and felt drawn to a nursing career. In 1943–6 she was a student nurse at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, where she met another student nurse who was a member of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, a new religious congregation in the catholic church.
By November 1950 Eileen, now Sr Mary Francis Morris, a registered general nurse, was a professed member of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, and was on her way to Ogoja diocese, Nigeria, West Africa. This was an area of Nigeria where leprosy was endemic and at that time incurable. After six months at a general hospital, Sr Francis was appointed to the central leprosy hospital at Ogoja. There she found patients of all ages and illnesses, and thus began her lifelong service to the marginal people of society. From then until 1979 she was matron in all the hospitals in which she worked: Ikom (1954–9, 1962–4), Nkalagu (1964–7), and Obudu (1959–62, 1968–79). In 1979 she retired as matron but continued to serve the leprosy and tuberculosis (TB) section at Obudu, until she retired in 1988 to spend her final years in declining health in Ireland. In Obudu area filaria is an endemic disease, which frequently causes blindness, a particular tragedy in countries that have no public provision for people with disabilities. Sr Francis was serving one such blind patient who had formerly been a teacher, and a conversation with him gave her the idea of having a school for the blind. She set about providing just that and used her writing talent to persuade her many friends that they could support this enterprise.
In 1974 the school was opened in very limited accommodation, and those who lived within walking distance continued to live at home. Residential accommodation was provided for those from further away. People from disadvantaged backgrounds with other disabilities were also enrolled and taught skills, including various handicrafts. A Dutch ophthalmologist, who came annually to the Sudan Interior Mission Hospital further north, agreed to give a month annually to Obudu. He performed many eye operations which restored sight, and also toured to various other hospitals to treat people in other parts of Nigeria. At this time no eye treatment was available beyond Lagos city. It is also on record that patients came from Lagos to Obudu. Meantime the school prospered with the help of the Mission for the Blind Society in Germany. When the school celebrated its silver jubilee in 1997, some of its past pupils were lecturers in various colleges of the University of Nigeria. Locally, the parents of sighted children were asking for admission for their children and a small number was allowed as an experiment. At Obudu hospital, through the good offices of her many friends, Sr Francis was able to leave a fully equipped operating theatre and ward for the service of the blind. In 1990 she returned to Ireland in failing health and died 4 December 1993 at Drogheda.