Name in Religion: Sister Mary Joseph
Date of Birth/Age: December 31, 1921 age 103 years
Date of Profession: August 20, 1945
Date of Death: June 17, 2025
Place of Death: St Joseph Living Center, Windham, CT
Date and Time of Funeral: Tuesday July 1, 2025 11:00
Place of Funeral: Corpus Christi Parish/ St. Joseph Church, Willimantic, CT
Ministry
Following her religious profession Sr. Eileen served in many varied ministries. She first taught in schools staffed by the Daughters of the Holy Spirit in Waterbury, CT, and in Alabama.
Sr. Eileen was among the first groups of Sisters who went to Chile when the congregation opened missions in that country in 1963 at the request of the bishops of Chile. She served in Antofagasta and Chanaral, Chile from 1963-66 where she taught and visited the families in their homes. She returned to the United States and taught ESL classes at Annhurst College until 1969 at which time she took an LPN course at Grassland School of Practical Nursing in Valhalla, NY. Upon completion of this in 1970, Sr. Eileen returned to Antofagasta and established a clinic there to care for the sick. Returning to the United States in 1972 she worked as a nurse in Selma, AL and then at St. Clare Convalescent Home in Newport, RI. She later ministered as a nurse under the Migrant Health Services in Hastings and Haine, FL and spent many summer months from 1974-76 among the migrants of the East Coast. She returned to Antofagasta in 1976 and worked there as a nurse for another 10 years followed by a year at the clinic of the Haitian Health Foundation in Jeremie, Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere before returning to the clinic in Antofagasta, Chile. In 1994 she served as clinic nurse among the migrants of Painter, VA before retiring to the Provincial House in Putnam in 1995. She joined the community at St. Joseph Living Center in 2018.
De Sister Janet Lewis, DHS