Sr. Joan Marie (Marie Raphael) Lacasse went peacefully home to the good God on Friday, September 20, 2019.
Sr. Joan was born in Lawrence, the daughter of the late Leo and Mary (Harkins) Lacasse and the sister of the late Carol G. Veilleux.
She leaves nieces and nephews and her community of Notre Dame de Namur Sisters at Ipswich and Worcester.
Sister Joan entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur on August 15, 1955, and professed her first vows on February 2, 1958 and her perpetual vows on July 28, 1963.
Sr. Joan received a B.S. degree in education and music from Lowell State Teachers College, her M. Ed from Salem State University in 1965, and later her master’s in art/liturgy and worship from Boston College in 1988.
Her ministries included St. Augustine, Andover; St. Anthony, Somerville; St. Thomas, Peabody; St. Jerome School, Weymouth; St. Joseph Regional School, Salem, N.H.; St. Joseph School, Immaculate Conception Parish, and Holy Trinity Parish, all of Lowell; and also served as director of religious education in St. Robert Bellarmine, Andover.
She had resided in her retirement at St. Julie Residential Care in Ipswich and the Notre Dame Long Term Care in Worcester, where she was dearly loved and respected.