Sister Rita T. Finnen, D.W., 85, (formerly Sister Joseph of the Trinity), a member of the Daughters of Wisdom for 64 years, died Aug. 26.

Born in Brooklyn, she met the Daughters of Wisdom when she volunteered at Holy Family Hospital, Cobble Hill. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing at St. John’s University, Jamaica, and studied nursing administration with a minor in medical-surgical nursing and an additional emphasis on teaching methods at Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., where she earned her master’s degree in nursing.

She subsequently served as a clinical nurse, director of nursing and a college educator of nurses. She worked at Good Samaritan Hospital, West Islip, and St. Charles Hospital, Port Jefferson, both founded by the Daughters of Wisdom on Long Island.

She was assistant professor at Bluefield State College, North Carolina, and later professor of nursing at East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.; and an instructor at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, N.C. Upon her retirement from teaching, she volunteered at a local radio station one evening a week to read the local news for people who were blind.

Burial was at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Coram, L.I.

She is survived by her sister, Alice Finnen McGowan of Katonah, NY.