Marie-Claire Soucy, SP
(Sister Marie-Claire)
Sister Marie-Claire Soucy, age 83, a Sister of Providence for 61 years, died December 8, 2022 at St. Joseph Residence, Seattle, Wash. Vigil: Sunday, December 18, 2022, at St. Joseph Residence, Seattle, Wash., at 3:00pm. Funeral Mass: Monday, December 19, 2022, at St. Joseph Residence, Seattle, Wash, at 10:30am. Bonney Watson Funeral Home oversees the arrangements.
She was born Pauline Marie Florence Soucy on December 21, 1938, in Lowell, Mass. to her parents Leo and Leona. Religion was always a strong foundation in her life. She attended schools in Lowell that were operated by the Grey Nuns of the Cross. And while in Montreal pursuing her nursing studies at Sacred Heart Hospital, she met the Sisters of Providence. In 1961 Sister Marie-Claire entered the community, receiving First Vows in 1963 and Final Vows in 1968.
Sister Marie-Claire felt she was born to be a missionary and certainly fits the definition of a citizen of the world. In 1963, she heeded the call from Pope John XXIII for missionaries to Latin America. She journeyed to the windswept area in the Patagonia region in Argentina. While in Argentina, she received her nursing diploma from the University of Córdoba, Argentina.
Nursing was Sister Marie-Claire’s favorite and most memorable ministry. She considered it a blessing to be in contact with the people, young and old, those who are sick and need others to care for them. As a woman religious missionary nurse, she ministered in Argentina, Africa, Brazil and Haiti. She provided care many times without electricity and other necessities while running a healthcare clinic, providing pastoral care, being a midwife, and sometimes a veterinarian. She lived and ministered among intense poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, malnourishment, and disease.
Sister Marie-Claire was especially grateful for her religious community and the many ways she was able to help those in need. She had an infectious love of life and was always ready to dance and share her beautiful smile. She will be immensely missed.
She is preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her half-brother, George Bradford, and by the Sisters in her community. To view Sister Marie-Claire’s obituary and picture and to sign her memory book, please visit the website for Bonney-Watson Funeral Home at www.bonneywatson.com.
