Age 87
Sister Doris Rondeau (formerly Sister Trinitas) was a Sister of Mercy for 67 years. Sister Doris prepared for teaching with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Salve Regina University and a Master of Arts in Education from Rhode Island College. She began teaching in Grade 5 at St. Vincent Home in Fall River, Massachusetts. She then taught middle grades at St. Mary School and St. John the Baptist in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She enjoyed acquainting students with new experiences, and her students remember her interest in them.
In 1976 she entered Mercy Hospital Nursing School in Portland, Maine, where she earned a Registered Nurse degree and a Bachelor of Arts in Nursing. She returned to Fall River, Massachusetts, and served as a support and head nurse for twenty years at Union Truesdale Hospital and later Charleton Memorial Hospital. The hundreds of patients she ministered to remember the patient woman who listened, answered questions and performed the most mundane acts with respect and sensitivity.
After leaving the hospital, Sister Doris served as a staff nurse at several nursing homes in Fall River, Massachusetts, including Highland Manor, Hanover Manor, and the Adams House. In semi-retirement, she ministered at the Catholic Memorial Home as Nursing Supervisor. On retirement, she served as a volunteer for the Sisters of Mercy at Landmark in Fall River, Massachusetts, as well as a Eucharistic Minister for the Cathedral parish at Borden Place Apartments, where she lived and was loved by the residents for her kindness to them. In June 2022, she became a resident of Catholic Memorial Home.
Sister Doris often reflected on her experience in nursing. She wrote: “For me, nursing is a privilege, an opportunity to carry out the Gospel mandate to minister to the sick and suffering. I do not see nursing as a mere job, profession, or career but as a commitment to people lived out daily in compassionate caring.” In her final vows, Sister Doris chose as her motto: Love without measure. Her life is an example of this as she gave herself to the loving care of so many.