Four days before her death, Sister M. Vivian Murphy, far left, is surrounded by her fellow Springfield Dominicans and harpist Jan Mulrooney-Kuhn in her room at the Regina Coeli infirmary at the sisters' motherhouse in Springfield, Ill. Sister Pauletta Overbeck tells her, "Can you just put your head back and relax? I love you so much. You know that, don't you?" The sisters believe in accompanying each other during death, and they sign up for round-the-clock shifts so that no sister will die alone.