Obituary: Bouffard, Sp, Claire Yvonne
Age 89
Vigil Service: Monday, December 8, 2014, 7:00 p.m., and Funeral Mass: Tuesday, December 9, 2014, both at St. Joseph Residence, 4800 37th Avenue SW, Seattle, WA.
Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery, Seattle, WA., following the Mass and reception.
Bonney-Watson Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.
Sr. Claire was born on September 21, 1925 to Joseph Gilbert Bouffard and Yvonne Marie Duquette, the third child in a family of eight, in Winooski, Vermont.
She attended the local parish school in Burlington, Vermont but illness struck her mother and the children were eventually sent to different relatives.
Sr. Claire was taken to the St. Joseph Orphanage operated by the Sisters of Providence.
She went on to work in different fields.
She felt a call to become religious and applied to the Sisters of Providence.
She entered in 1951 in Montreal, then was sent to Seattle to enter the novitiate of the Sisters of Providence on January 18, 1952.
She professed first vows on July 19, 1953, and her final vows on July 19, 1956.
She earned a B.S.
in Business Administration from the College of Great Falls Montana (now the University of Great Falls), in 1968.
She attended the CREDO Sabbatical Program at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA.
in 1975.
Her years of ministry in finance were at: Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, Wallace, Idaho; St. Clare Hospital, Ft. Benton, MT.
; Holy Family Hospital, St. Ignatius, MT.
; Providence Hospital, Wallace, Idaho; St. Mary Hospital, Walla Walla, WA.
; and at St. Joseph Care Center, Spokane, WA., as Director of Finance.
In 1993, she began working in the archives in St. Ignatius Province.
She “fully” retired at the end of 1999.
Sr. Claire served on the following boards: St. Mary Medical Center, Walla Walla; Sacred Heart Medical Center, Spokane; and the Caritas and St. Joseph Corporations.
She was also a member of the Sisters’ Finance Committee for the province.
She enjoyed fine arts, crafts, sewing, and reading.
She is preceded in death by her parents and siblings.
She is survived by two nieces, Kathy VanLieshout, in Florida and Debra Morrison, in Rhode Island.
Memorial contributions may be made in her honor to the Sisters of Providence Retirement Fund, 1801 Lind Avenue SW, #9016, Renton, WA 98057-9016.
To view Sr. Claire’s obituary and picture and to sign her memory book, please visit the website for Bonney-Watson Funeral Home at www.bonneywatson.com.