Sisters mark 205 years of commitment

Sr. Patricia Wallace

Special to the WCR
Saint John, N.B.

Three Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception with strong ties to Alberta recently celebrated anniversaries marking a total of 205 years of commitment to religious life.

Sister Patricia Wallace, who served 43 years in Edmonton, on Sept. 6 marked 75 years as a Sister of Charity.

Originally from Black’s Harbour, N.B., she entered the SCIC in Saint John in 1933 before teaching elementary and high school in Edmonton for 35 years.

When she retired in 1974, she received a life membership in the Alberta Teachers’ Association. After hospital ministry in Vancouver and Radway, Alta., she returned to Edmonton to serve in the archdiocesan Adult Religious Education department.

Sr. Janet Girard

Wallace returned to British Columbia and also served on the SCIC leadership team from 1990-94 before retiring here in 2002.

Originally from Edmonton, Sister Jannette Girard celebrated 60 years as a Sister of Charity on Sept. 11.

Sr. Bertha Goodine

Girard served as a cook, seamstress and housekeeper at SCIC missions in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, as well as Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

More recently, she worked among poor persons in Edmonton before retiring to Saint John in 2005.

Sister Bertha Goodine, a former Edmonton educator, also celebrated on Sept. 11. She has been a sister for 70 years.

Born in Fredericton, Goodine entered the SCIC in 1938 and taught in Saint John schools for 29 years.

Arriving in Edmonton in 1974, she supervised a reading laboratory for St. Mary’s High School before becoming the resource room teacher at St. Hilda’s School until 1985.

She also served as coordinator of pastoral care at Norwood Extended Care Centre in Edmonton before returning to New Brunswick in 1996.

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