Recently Srs. Nancy Crossen and Dorothy (Pat) Real represented the congregation and Sr. Shirley Boucher’s family at a memorial service for the donors in the Anatomical Gifts Program at the University of Southern Alabama.
Read Sr. Nancy’s account of the day and her memorial to Sr. Shirley Boucher.
Aston, PA-Sister Shirley Boucher, OSF, 61, died at Most Pure of Heart of Mary Convent in Mobile, Alabama, on Tuesday, June 30, 2009. She had been a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 38 years. Sister Shirley was born in Whitefish, Montana. Prior to her entrance into the congregation in 1968, she graduated from Great Falls Central Catholic High School and was a member of St. Mary Parish in Great Falls. Sister Shirley earned a B.A. in Education from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and an M.A. in Education from the University of San Francisco. She ministered in elementary education and was the author of several articles published in educational journals. Her interest in science led her to be part of the Astronaut Space Camp in 1974 and since 2000 has been active in the GLOBE Program sponsored by NASA and the National Science Foundation. In 1991 she also spent eight weeks ministering in the Meheba Refugee Camp in Zambia. For the past 16 years, Sister Shirley has ministered in the Archdiocese of Mobile, where she taught and served as vice principal of Most Precious Heart of Mary School.
Sister Shirley ministered for 14 years in California, 11 of them in the Diocese of San Bernardino. She was principal of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Riverside and taught at St. Francis DeSales School in Riverside. She also worked in the Diocese of San Diego, teaching at the School of the Madeleine.
Sister Shirley ministered in the Archdiocese of Seattle where she taught at St. Charles School in Tacoma and Our Lady of Lourdes School in Seattle. In the Diocese of Spokane she taught at St. Charles School.
Sister Shirley ministered for five years in the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, teaching at St. John Fisher School in Portland.
A Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 10 A.M. at Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 304 Sengstak Street, Mobile, Alabama, 36603. Burial will be in Our Lady of Angels Cemetery in Aston, Pennsylvania. Sister Shirley is predeceased by her birth parents, Isador Marthe and Martha Voem Marthe, and her adoptive mother, Rose Marie Gagnon Boucher. She is survived by her sisters, Carol Accosta, Sharon Harmon, and Sharon Hayes, and by her Franciscan family. Donations in her name can be made to the Sisters of St. Francis Foundation, 609 S. Convent Road, Aston, PA 19014.
