HANOVER - Before Sister Shawn Dunn died, following a grueling battle with cancer and a life of service to the mentally handicapped and disabled, she wrote in her will that donations in her memory be made to a scholarship fund.

Last month, six $750 scholarships were doled out to employees and their immediate family members of St. Coletta and Cardinal Cushing Schools of Massachusetts who are pursuing degrees in human services.

Sister Dunn began working at the Cushing Center in Hanover, then called St. Coletta’s, in 1949 as a teacher. She became superintendent in 1956. She was devoted to assisting retarded and handicapped children until her retirement in 1975, and was affectionately known to them as ‘‘Darlin’.’’

Before her death in her hometown of Milwaukee, Sister Dunn said goodbye to 350 students and staff at the Cushing Center at a dedication ceremony where a physiotherapy center was named after her.

‘‘I feel I have been privileged in so many countless ways throughout my entire life,’’ she told the crowd of faculty, staff and students in the summer of 1979 with tears in her eyes. She died a month later.

But her desire to help others lives on through her scholarships.

Christie Jennings, daughter of maintenance supervisor Tom Jennings, received a scholarship toward her degree from University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she is majoring in psychology.

Amy Fanning, daughter of food services director Gerry Fanning and vocational instructor Joyce Fanning, studies physical therapy in a predoctorate program at Northeastern University.