Marlborough – Sister Catherine Rose Poquette died Monday, May 16, 2016 at St. Patrick’s Manor, Framingham. Sister was 83 years of age and had been a Contemplative Sister of the Good Shepherd for 63 years.
Sister was born in 1933 in Burlington, Vt., the daughter of Delphise and Melvina (Socia) Poquette. She attended Guardian Angel School in Troy, N.Y. and graduated from Catholic Central High in New York. She went on to study at Rutland Business College in Rutland, Vt.
In 1952, Sister Catherine Rose entered the Novitiate of the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Peekskill, N.Y. Sister pronounced her first vows in 1955 and made her perpetual vows in 1961.
Sister Catherine Rose was a gifted seamstress and also served in the ministry of baking altar bread in the Contemplative community in Troy, N.Y. Her business training enabled her to efficiently manage the altar bread accounts with great skill and care.
In 1964, the Contemplative sisters were trained in weaving and for the next 35 years Sister Catherine Rose engaged in the art of weaving altar vestments in the Troy, N.Y. and the Springfield, Mass. communities. She was also local community leader in both the Springfield, Mass. and Trenton, N.J. Contemplative communities and is fondly remembered for her kind and gentle leadership.
In 1999 Sister was missioned to the Contemplative community in Trenton, N.J. and then to Wickatunk, N.J. in 2007, due to failing health, Sister was transferred to Good Shepherd Center in Marlborough. She then went to St. Patrick’s Manor in Framingham in 2011.
Sister was predeceased by one sister and several brothers.
Visiting hours will be held Thursday, May 19, from 4-8 p.m., at Good Shepherd Center, 406 Hemenway St., Marlborough, with a prayer service at 7 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered for Sister Catherine Rose Friday, May 20, at 10 a.m., at Good Shepherd Center. Burial will be at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Northampton. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Fitzgerald & Collins Funeral Home (www.collinsfuneral.com) of Marlborough.
Expressions of sympathy in Sister Catherine’s memory may be made to the Good Shepherd Retirement Fund, 406 Hemenway St., Marlborough, MA 01752.
The Sisters of the Good Shepherd were founded by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in Angers, France in 1835, in the United States (Louisville, KY) in 1843, and in Boston in 1867.
