Sister Gilberte Bernadette Parent
November 10, 1921 - February 15, 2010
Obituary
Obituary Notice:
Sister Gilberte Parent, SP
Sister Gilberte Parent Sister Cecile Marie died on Monday, February 15, 2010 at St. Joseph Residence, Seattle, Washington at 88 years of age, after 64 years as a Sister of Providence. The Vigil Service will be held on Thursday, February 18, 2010 at St. Joseph Residence, 4800 37th Avenue SW, Seattle, Washington, at 7:00 p.m., and the Funeral Mass will be celebrated there on Friday, February 19, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. Burial will follow at Calvary Cemetery, Seattle. Bonney-Watson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Gilberte Bernadette Parent was born on November 10, 1921, in Roxton Falls, Quebec, Canada to Adrien and Cecile Brillant Parent. She was the eighth child in a family of twelve. She entered the Novitiate on May 18, 1945 in Montreal, professed her first vows in 1946, and her final vows in 1950. Sr. Gilberte knew she wanted to become a Sister at an early age. Three of her sisters Isabelle, Jeanne, and Gabrielle and two of her aunts Sister Cresence and Mother Pascal became Sisters of Providence. The Parent family prayed the Rosary together at night and took the horse and sleigh to church on Sundays. Her mother was a hardworking, quiet woman who made all the children’s clothes and was a very good cook. Her father loved politics. She recalled that both parents gave much love and faith to their children.
Sr. Gilberte became a citizen of the United States of America on November 11, 1954 in Seattle, Washington.
She completed her high school education at Providence Academy in Vancouver, Washington in 1951. She earned a BS degree in Nursing from Seattle University in 1957.
Sister Gilberte’s ministry assignments were primarily in nursing: Head Nurse and Nursing Supervisor, St. Mary Hospital, Walla Walla, WA 1957-59; Nursing Supervisor, Providence Seattle Medical Center, Seattle, WA 1959-61, 1962-64, 1966-82; Nursing Supervisor, Orthopedic Unit, Providence Portland Medical Center, Portland, OR 1961-62; Assistant Administrator, St. John Hospital, Port Townsend, WA 1964-65; Nursing Supervisor, St. Joseph Hospital, Fairbanks, AK 1965-66; Staff Nurse, St. Joseph Medical Center, Burbank, CA 1982 – 90. After retiring in 1990, Sister Gilberte was a volunteer for Hospice Home Health in Burbank, CA. In September 2004, Sr. Gilberte moved to St. Joseph Residence in Seattle, Washington where she remained until her death.
Sr. Gilberte enjoyed gardening, refinishing furniture, cooking, knitting, reading, exercising, and movies. She loved the quiet of her home for prayer and also made many visits to the dying at their homes. She enjoyed living in California.
Sr. Gilberte’s parents and seven of her siblings preceded her in death. Sister Gilberte is survived by two brothers, Roger Martine Parent, St. Bruno, Quebec, and Edgar Jacqueline Parent, Granby, Quebec; two sisters, Antoinette Parent, Granby, Quebec, and Therese Parent Adrien Mongeau, Roxton Falls, Quebec; several nieces, nephews, grandnephews, grandnieces, cousins, close friends, and her community of Sisters of Providence.
Memorial contributions may be made in her honor to the Sisters of Providence Retirement Fund, 1801 Lind Avenue SW, #9016, Renton, WA 98057-9016.