Age 90
Sister Monique shared graciously and generously all her strong visionary and professional skills and gifts as a teacher, chaplain and counselor.
At the age of 18, she entered the Sisters of Mercy in Manchester, New Hampshire. She held a bachelor’s degree in education from Mount St. Mary College in Hooksett, New Hampshire, and a master’s degree in religious education from Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts. Initially she taught primary grades in the Manchester diocese in New Hampshire for 15 years.
After teaching first graders, Sister Monique held positions in adult religious education and spirituality. For 38 years Sister Monique served as director/co-director of the Christian Life Center in Berlin, pastoral associate in Good Shepherd Parish, chaplain at the Androscoggin Valley Hospital, and pastoral counselor at the Gorham Medical Center, all in New Hampshire. She also was a co-director at the Dover and Durham Christian Life Center.
She helped create the Christian Life Center because of a need she saw in the community. Single mothers needed support and a place to learn parenting skills. Sister Monique also
helped start the “Who Am I?” program – the first sex education and adolescent development program in Coos County. She also created a “Mothers Together,” group that brought women together weekly for classes taught by experts in family dynamics, while care takers watched their children. The goals of these groups were to help families to find strength and how to work together.
At the age of 80, Sister Monique decided the time had come to retire and go live with the Sisters of Mercy in Windham, New Hampshire including her sister Denise.