Sister Helene Maynard
July 23, 1933 - January 8, 2022
Obituary
(Marie-Hélène)
Sister Hélène Maynard (Sister Marie-Hélène), age 88, a Sister of Providence for 65 years, died January 8, 2022, at St. Joseph Residence, Seattle, Wash. Funeral Mass: Thursday, January 27, 2022 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Seattle, Wash. at 11am. Bonney Watson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Sister Hélène, the second of nine children, was born in Joliette (near Montreal), Quebec, Canada on July 23, 1933 to Alphonse and Yvette (Rondeau) Maynard.
Sister Hélène noticed that the presence of the Sisters of Providence was appreciated by the people of the Montreal area, especially by the orphans, old men, and the poor. She never was educated by the Sisters of Providence, but their testimony of simplicity and poverty inspired her to become a Sister for the poor and sick. At the age of twenty-three, she decided to enter the Providence community in Montreal. She became a novice in 1956, professed first vows in 1958, and perpetual vows in 1963.
Sister Hélène earned a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree in 1968 from Montreal University.
Sister Hélène’s nursing assignments were in various Quebec hospitals, as well as in Cameroon and Haiti. In 1996 after nearly 40 years of ministry as a nurse in Quebec, Canada. She moved to Portland, Ore., and took ESL classes at Clark College in nearby Vancouver, Wash. She was missioned to the infirmary at St. Joseph Residence, Seattle, to take care of the Canadian sisters. She also provided pastoral care at St. Joseph Residence, Seattle. In 2002 she received permission to transfer to the Mother Joseph Province community (of Western United States) from the Emilie Community of Montreal. She retired in 2009 and moved to St. Joseph Residence.
Sister Hélène is survived by one sister: Monique Maynard of Laval, Quebec; and three brothers: Roland Maynard of Montreal, Quebec; Robert Maynard of Valleyfield, Quebec; and Marcel Maynard of Montreal, Quebec, nieces and nephews, and by the Sisters in her community.
To view Sr. Hélène’s obituary and picture and to sign her memory book, please visit the website for Bonney-Watson Funeral Home at www.bonneywatson.com.
