NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. — Holy Union Sister Yvonne Phoenix, 95, formerly Sister Marie Gemma, a resident of Madonna Manor, died June 21.
Born in Pawtucket, she was the daughter of the late …
NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. — Holy Union Sister Yvonne Phoenix, 95, formerly Sister Marie Gemma, a resident of Madonna Manor, died June 21.
Born in Pawtucket, she was the daughter of the late Honorius and Alphonsine (Sicard) Phoenix.
She attended St. John the Baptist Academy and graduated from Pawtucket Senior High School. She entered the Holy Union Sisters in Fall River, Mass. in 1933, and pronounced her vows on July 26, 1934. Sister Phoenix attended the former Catholic Teachers’ College, Providence; Manhattanville College, New York; and graduated from the former Sacred Heart School of Education, Fall River.
Her teaching career spanned almost 50 years in schools in Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island, where she taught at the former St. John the Baptist, Pawtucket. She was also a well-known music teacher.
Sister Phoenix later served as a pastoral minister at the former St. Michael Church, Swansea, Mass., and at Madonna Manor. In 2008, she observed the 75th anniversary of her entrance into the Holy Union congregation.
She is survived by a niece, Camille Broussard of Pawtucket, and was the sister of the late Jeannette Phoenix Baris and Theresa Phoenix Morrisseau.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated June 24 at Sacred Heart Church, North Attleboro. Burial was in St. Mary Cemetery, North Attleboro.
