Obituaries

From the first member of the congregation to pass away in 1870 to recent deaths, all the obituaries of deceased Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul are accessible and searchable. You can search by name, or use the birth date, death date and location filters.

These are not typical obituaries, in fact in the world of consecrated life we refer to them as necrologies. These biographical sketches are written by the General Secretary of the congregation shortly after the death of each individual sister. The necrologies are historical documents and may contain errors, including variations in spellings and incorrect dates. The necrologies are presented here as they were written.

If you would like more information about a deceased sister please contact the archivist.

Sister Mary Joseph O’Brien

Sister Mary Joseph O’Brien

Out of this life I shall never takeThings of silver and gold, I make.…Shall the Great Judge learnWhen my task is throughthat my spirit has gathered some riches too? These lines are part of a poem composed and left behind by Sister Mary Joseph’s mother, Mary Agnes, who...

Sister Margaret Black

Sister Margaret Black

Sister Margaret Black, formerly Sister Mary Imelda, in her 91st year, died at Providence Motherhouse, Kingston, on May 8, 1999. She was survived by her brother, James of Belleville. Margaret, one of a family of seven children, was born in Belleville on March 30, 1908....

Sister Mary Canice Joynt

Sister Mary Canice Joynt

Sister Mary Canice died at Providence Motherhouse, Kingston, on March 22, 1999[sic]*. She was the last surviving member of her immediate family. Catherine Joynt, the youngest of sixteen children, first saw the light of day in Quebec City on August 18, 1908. Her Irish...

Sister Mary Hagan

Sister Mary Hagan

Sister Mary Hagan, suffered a stroke on March 4, 1999. After a brief time in Kingston General Hospital, she returned to Providence Motherhouse where she died peacefully on March 22, 1999. Mary, the daughter of an Irish immigrant family, was born in Westport on January...

Sister Margaret Haughian

Sister Margaret Haughian

After a long and fruitful life, Sister Margaret Haughian died suddenly at Kingston General Hospital on February 11, 1999. She was eighty years old. Sister Margaret was born in Stanleyville, Ontario, on October 13, 1918. After the death of her mother at childbirth,...

Sister Mary Denise Closs

Sister Mary Denise Closs

After a long and fruitful life, Sister Mary Denise, Sister of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul died at Providence Motherhouse, Kingston, Ontario on December 23, 1998. Her parents, the descendants of emigrant farmers from Northern Ireland, settled in Lanark Township,...

Sister Mary Hamilton

Sister Mary Hamilton

Spring was late coming in 1909, but Mary Margaret Theresa Hamilton arrived on time, on April 30 to be welcomed by her parents, Elizabeth (Donovan) and Robert, of Elgin. She also lit up the life of her two siblings who preceded her into this world, Gerald and Evelyn....

Sister Florence Goulah

Sister Florence Goulah

Born on a farm in Hastings County on April 30, 1912, Margaret Florence Goulah was the oldest of thirteen children born to the late Mr. and Mrs. John Goulah. They were a poor but happy family. Times were tough, but John and Margaret Goulah always found a way to keep...

Sister Elizabeth Cassidy

Sister Elizabeth Cassidy

Born in Stoco, ON, on August 20, 1912, Elizabeth was the eldest child of the late Peter and Catherine (Taylor) Cassidy. She had three brothers, John Thomas, Joseph Leo and James Donald. Donald died in infancy and John died in 1992. Joseph is the only remaining member...

Sister Mary Theresa O’Brien

Sister Mary Theresa O’Brien

Born on a farm near Bancroft, Theresa was the youngest of six children born to the late Mr. and Mrs. John O’Brien. Martin is the only remaining member of Theresa’s immediate family. Theresa went to the country public school until grade nine. Her mother was not well...

Sister Thomassina Whalen

Sister Thomassina Whalen

Mary Agnes Whalen was born on October 17, 1915, in Stoco, Ontario. At the time, her parents Thomas Whalen and Alice (Doran) had five other older children, three girls and two boys. Three of Mary Agnes' siblings were called to their eternal reward before her. Mary...

Sister Mary Helen Rita Gawley

Sister Mary Helen Rita Gawley

Margaret Gawley was born on September 28, 1912, in Lang, Saskatchewan the daughter of Joseph Gawley and Johanna Flannery. She grew up with two other sisters and two brothers. Their mother died young, leaving an infant son and four other children, the oldest of which...

Sister Loretta Buchanan

Sister Loretta Buchanan

Loretta Buchanan was born on February 8, 1906, in Toledo, ON, the daughter of Malcolm James Buchanan and Elizabeth Maloney. Loretta was the youngest child in a family of six. When she was still quite young her family moved to Strome, eight miles west of Daysland,...

Sister Verna Plue

Sister Verna Plue

Verna Elizabeth Plue was born on March 31, 1901, in Actinolite, Hasting County, ON, the daughter of Edward Plue and Catherine Conway. Verna was the youngest and only girl in a family of six. With five brothers, Verna was subjected to a lot of teasing and frequently...

Sister Mary Avita McGuire

Sister Mary Avita McGuire

Beatrice McGuire was born in Strathcona, Ontario, on June 23, 1908. She was the middle child of a family of nine to be born to James Patrick McGuire and his wife, Mary Agnes (Kennedy). This family of five boys and four girls lived in a big, white limestone farm house...

Sister Mary Clare Doran

Sister Mary Clare Doran

Stella Mary Doran was born in Belleville, Ontario, the eldest child of Elizabeth (Ford) and William Doran. She was to have five brothers, two of whom, (Charles and John) were still living at the time of her death. In 1944, her brother, Arthur (Art), who was three...

Sister Mary Therese Doyle

Sister Mary Therese Doyle

Mary Gertrude Doyle was born the second child of a family of five to Thomas Patrick Doyle and Ellen McDonald in Forest Mills, Ontario on March 4th, 1913. She was baptized sixteen days later in St. Charles Church, Read, and Ontario. Her elder brother, John, was three...

Sister Margaret McDonald

Sister Margaret McDonald

Margaret McDonald made her entry into life in a quiet country home in Glengarry, Ontario, sometimes referred to by her Scottish friends and relatives as God’s country. Because there were several McDonald families living in the area, Margaret’s family was...

Sister Monica Shea

Sister Monica Shea

Margaret Monica Shea was born in Vinton, Quebec on January 30, 1914. Vinton, Quebec could have been a village transplanted from Ireland. Almost every family living there on the banks of the Ottawa River was Irish Catholic. The people made their living on farms which...

Sister Mary Cletus Vincent

Sister Mary Cletus Vincent

Eva Vincent was born in Sweetsburg, Quebec on March 28, 1898. She was the sixth child in a family of nine. Her parents were Alfred Vincent and Rose Delima Landreville, both of whom were born in Quebec but moved to Gananoque, Ontario when Eva was a child. Eva grew up...