Linette Doucette

“I learned to say, ‘I’m with you, just show me how.’ I always felt better when I gave myself to God.”

-Sister Linette Doucette, at her 80th Jubilee in 2026 

Born in Waterville, Maine, on May 29, 1928, Sister Linette Doucette, SNDdeN enjoyed a happy childhood as one of seven children. Thanks to hard-working parents and an outdoor environment that gave the children many opportunities for play, she and her brother Joe enjoyed heading to the woods to look for snakes under rocks!

After work, her father carefully tended his vegetable garden so the family could eat well through the Great Depression. Her mother, a French Canadian, was a wonderful cook who kept chickens and a cow for the children’s milk. It was a big deal when each child became old enough to milk the cow!

“Father loved my mother like there was no tomorrow,” says Sister Linette. “He did everything he could to help her.”

They were strong in their Catholic faith, and Sister Linette remembers the family gathering in the kitchen, on their knees, to recite the Rosary.

In 1946, Linette entered the Ursuline Order. She later learned that her mother had prayed that she would enter into religious life. Within months, she was invited to France for her novitiate training. She quips, “Who would say no to that!?” She already knew the language, thanks to her mother, and she spent over two years there.

In France, she learned to let God lead her life. He soon led it in a way she didn’t expect, but she had faith: “God seems to know just exactly when it’s time for you to learn a lesson.”

Upon her return from France, Sister Linette went to New Rochelle, New York, to begin work on her first degree. After four years of study, she entered her ministry of teaching in Maine, the Bronx and Springfield, Massachusetts, where she met the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

With God’s help, Sister Linette transferred to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1980. This was a life-changing decision, and as Sister Linette describes it, “one of the best decisions I’ve made!”

As an SNDdeN, she taught at St. Thomas Aquinas in New Britain, Connecticut, and at St. Justin’s School in Hartford. Of all her ministries, Sister most loved teaching 8th grade at St. Justin’s. At the time, the neighborhood was predominantly immigrants from Jamaica. “These were the children I taught,” she recalls. “They were all so receptive. I loved English class the most. I thought I had it made. I loved all the kids so much.”

Over the years, Sister Linette served as a pastoral care provider and taught English to refugees in the Diocese of Hartford. One memorable experience was when she volunteered to help prepare for and welcome Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur from around the world who were attending an orientation workshop at the United Nations in New York City. Traveling by subway, walking from place to place and providing meals and supplies proved to be a strenuous undertaking, and yet Sister Linette took on these challenges with her usual positive energy and good spirits.

Reflecting on her experiences on the occasion of her 80th Jubilee in 2026, Sister Linette said, “It was a great life when I go back now and think about it. I was very happy. I wanted to be the one who was God’s person.

“I learned to say, ‘I’m with you, just show me how.’ I always felt better when I gave myself to God.”

Today, though retired, Sister Linette continues to help others–praying with them and accompanying them in their suffering. “You can help a lot of people just by doing small things,” she says.