FALL RIVER, Mass. — Sister Gertrude Pare, SUSC, died suddenly on July 22, at the age of 88.
Born in Central Falls, Rhode Island, on July 21, 1937, she was the daughter of the late Maurice and Vivian (Lemieux) Pare. In addition to her Holy Union Sisters, she is survived by her sisters, Estelle Beauregard, Doris Gaboury and Lauretta Rendine; nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. She was predeceased by her brothers Charles Pare and Richard Pare and her aunt, Sister Alice Pare, (Sister Lucilla Maria), SUSC.
Sister Gert, as she was known by all, entered the Holy Union Sisters on September 8, 1954, and pronounced her final vows on July 26, 1963. Her early education was at St. John the Baptist Academy, Pawtucket and Sacred Heart High School, Groton, Massachusetts. She earned a B.S. in education at Catholic Teacher’s College, Providence, and did further study at St. Michael College, Vermont. She took administration courses at Boston College and Rhode Island College.
Sister Gert taught primary grades in schools staffed by her religious community in Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island. She served as principal at Assumption School, Chelsea and Sacred Heart School, Lawrence.
When she left education, Sister Gert was a secretary at Saints Medical Center in Lowell. In 2009, she returned to Holy Union ministry in Groton, Massachusetts, as curator of the Holy Union Heritage House and welcomed sisters to the Bethany House of Hospitality. She was a member of the Board of the Country Day School of the Holy Union. In 2020, she joined the retired Holy Union Sisters at Anchor Bay at Pocasset in Johnston, Rhode Island and served as an assistant in the Mission Advancement Office in Fall River. In 2024 Sister Gert celebrated 70 years as a Holy Union Sister.
Sister Gert’s Mass of Christian Burial took place at St. Mark Church, Attleboro Falls, Massachusetts, on July 31, 2025. Donations in Sister Gertrude’s memory may be made to The Holy Union Sisters’ Mission Advancement Office, 205 Bedford Street Fall River, MA 02720.
