SISTER YVONNE VERMETTE

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SISTER YVONNE VERMETTE, S.N.J.M. (SISTER BERTHE-ALICE) After suffering a long agony, Sister Yvonne Vermette passed away very serenely on Wednesday morning, May 22, 2002, in the presence of members of her family and of her religious Order. Born in St. Jean-Baptiste, MB, on October 19, 1915, daughter of Berthe (Touchette) and Philippe Vermette, Yvonne was the fifth child born into a beautiful rural family that was to count 14 children. After her studies at the local school, Yvonne was most happy to be able to remain at home to help her parents. The many gifts she had been endowed with and her great love for her family were put to amazing advantage. Tending to her younger siblings needs, helping them in their school work, doing many household chores and gardening were her favourite occupations. And what a precious help Yvonne was during harvest time! Raised in the midst of a faith-filled family, Yvonne, most generous and fervent in her relationship with the Lord, did not hesitate to leave, at 17 years of age, a family she dearly cherished to answer His call to religious life. She entered the novitiate of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in Outremont, QC, in July 1936. Very seriously she completed the required two years of training during which time she acquired a genuine spirituality and she perfected her culinary skills. Upon her return to Manitoba in August 1938, Sister Berthe-Alice began a lengthy career that spanned 50 years of commitment to her religious community, mainly as a cordon bleu cook and in performing many other manual tasks. Wherever Sister Berthe-Alice laboured, be it in SNJM bilingual or anglophone convents of Manitoba, her religious Sisters unanimously praised her desire to do what pleased them and in this she succeeded. She herself once wrote in her personal notes: "I do my best to try to make others happy". In a special way, at St. Marys Academy, where Sister laboured for some 20 years, resident students and Sisters alike praised highly her dedication and her thoughtfulness. During Sister Yvonnes retirement years, she helped in various community tasks, she knitted for the poor, she read, she prayed. When, in early April 2002, Sister learned that her illness was terminal and that she was confined to an infirmary room, she had but one concern: prepare to meet her Lord and his Mother for whom she always had such a great devotion. Besides her parents, Sister Yvonne was predeceased by one sister Alice (Beaudette) her brothers, Andre, Clovis, Lucien, Ovide, Roland, Gerard (who died at four years of age), and Gerard (the second boy by that name, who died in 1998). To mourn her passing, she leaves her sisters, Annette, Sister Agnes, SNJM, Sister Fernande, Missionnaire Oblate, and Irene; her brother Armand; her sisters-in-law, Odile, Agnes, and Cecile; her brother-in-law Gabriel Ritchot; and many nieces and nephews. The members of the Vermette family wish to express their heartfelt gratitude to the nursing staff, the Holy Names sisters and the employees of the Residence Jesus-Marie for their many acts of kindness and the excellent care given to their sister. Prayers for Sister Yvonne Vermette will be said at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 24 at Desjardins Funeral Chapel, 357 Des Meurons St. Funeral Mass, presided by Mgr Albert Frechette, will be celebrated at St. Boniface Cathedral on Saturday, May 25 at 10:00 a.m. The Desjardins Funeral Chapel in care of arrangements, 233-4949 or toll free 1-888-233-4949.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 24, 2002