Sister Gilberte Paquette
Saint-Basile
entered Eternal Life on August 10, 2009
at age 86 years
in religious life 65 years
+ 2288
1871
« You, Sister, embraced by Christ, a passion will invade your heart,
a spring of living water will sate your whole being,
a wound of love will be set ablaze in you. »
This phrase, found on the first page of our Way of Life, as like a prophecy, is truly applicable to our Sister Gilberte Paquette. Let us see how her total gift of self to Christ, inspired by the charism of compassion of Élisabeth Bruyère, led her to relieve human misery and to let herself be consumed by her love of Christ as she said YES to whatever happened in her life.
Fourth in a family of eight, seven of them being girls, Gilberte was born in La Reine, Abitibi county, in Quebec on June 9, 1923, and was baptized in the parish of St. Philip on the following June 13. Two weeks later, the family joins the father, William Paquette who is employed by the Canadian National Railway and recently transferred to Mace, Ontario, a small Indian reservation on the shores of Lake Abitibi. The train being the only source of transportation, a priest would come twice a year to celebrate the weddings and baptize the newborn babies. On this occasion, the priest would administer the Sacraments and celebrate Mass in the Paquette’s living room where the Indians and other Catholics would gather. The mother, Alice Blouin, knew how to prepare frugal food and turn it into a feast for the guests. An untiring worker, she was able to see her family through the recession of 1929 without too many problems; she would attribute her qualities to the formation received as she spent 15 months with the Augustinian Sisters of the General Hospital of Quebec and during which she had developed a deep confidence in Our Lady of Protection. Sister Gilberte wrote : “My mother was a very mild person; she knew how to reprimand or even punish us, but always with love.” Of her father, she would write : “He loved to sing and to tell stories, which did not stop him from doing other chores as taking care of the grounds, chopping wood for the stove and doing some carpentry.” She then adds : “I lived in a very peaceful atmosphere, but not a monotonous one : I only had to look through the window to admire a forest, to listen to the birds singing, to look at the chipmunks, rabbits, even wolves walking around the house. The souvenirs remind me of the wonderful years spent with my family and two of my father’s co‑workers who boarded at our house.” As a little girl, Gilberte took part in adult conversations, and knew how to read and write before going to school. What she enjoyed most was the yearly trip to visit grandparents in Saguenay and in Bellechasse… made possible by the fact that they had passes to travel on the CNR.
After six years of living in isolation, Gilberte’s parents decided to leave the deep forest to move to an area where the children could attend “a real school”. They chose Frederick House in Northern Ontario where there were about 50 families, mostly farmers and half of which were Anglophone. On April 29, 1929, Gilberte begins her primary school located across the road from her home, and in two months and a half, completes the grade 1 program. On the 20th of April 1930, she receives her first Holy Communion. At the age of 14, she completes her primary school, and since there are no Secondary Schools in the area, she remains at home where she learns all one has to know about housekeeping. All the while, she reads, studies mathematics and sciences on her own; she improves her English and also takes time to learn to knit, crochet, etc.
As she lives close to the church, the pastor, Fr. Ulric Arpin, asks her if she would like to learn Latin to be able to assist him at Mass. She gladly accepted and was the “altar girl” until she was 16. I was really thrilled to discover Latin, and found it only natural to “dialogue with the celebrant” at the daily Mass. This pastor was also a farmer and she would help him in that work as well and also prepared meals for him and for his aging mother who lived at the rectory. In the course of her last trip to Quebec, she visited two great aunts who were religious and who took the opportunity to talk about a vocation to religious life, but it was through a teacher who boarded in her home that she came to know the Grey Nuns of the Cross, and entered the community on January 15, 1942.
At the age of 20, Sister Gilberte takes her first vows under the name of Sister Saint-Basile; the next day, she received an obedience to Alfred, Ontario where she taught primary school, and Secondary School after she had gone to Normal School at the University of Ottawa. Pursuing her studies, she obtained a B.A. in 1956, a B.Com..Sc. in 1959, and completed her studies in Hospital Administration in 1966. In 1959, Sister Gilberte’ career has reached a turning point. She is called to be the Assistant Administrator at the Ottawa General Hospital, and the following year, she also assumes the responsibility of Bursar for the Christ the King Province. In 1968, she becomes the Administrator of the Hospital and will remain in this position until 1980, when the hospital is passed on to a lay corporation. A woman of vision, she then undertakes the organization of the Élisabeth Bruyère Health Centre where the care of the elderly will be the main goal. Thanks to her determination and her spirit of compassion, she succeeds in getting the permission to set up a Palliative Care Unit in 1983, within the Center. This Unit is recognized throughout Canada. At that time, she also organized a committee of female citizens to help in a “detox” centre for women.
One could ask where Sister Gilberte took all her energy? The answer is simple : “God being served first at all times.” She also had a lot of confidence in the Virgin Mary and prayer kindled the interior flame that kept her wanting to become involved in multiple professional and community associations. She participated in the foundation of the Canadian College of Health Services, the Ontario Academy of Health Administrators, the Canadian and Ontario Hospital Associations, and the Academy of Directors of Hospitals in the Ottawa Region. She would faithfully assist at all the meetings, conferences and conventions, and was considered a resource person in the health care field. Her talents were recognized as she received the Pro Ecclesia Medal from the Pope in 1984 and the Order of Canada from the hands of Madame Jeanne Sauvé, the then Governor General of Canada in 1985.
As a companion, Sister was joyful, cooperative charitable and discrete, and never made disparaging comments about anyone. As she got older, she became quite flexible, and continued to be an eternal optimist!
In 1998, she experienced the worst trauma in her whole life as she suddenly became blind and had to leave her post as Administrator. For someone so active to become so suddenly dependent was a real shock. Yet, it did not stop her from writing a book entitled : In the footsteps of Mother Élisabeth Bruyère in which we discover a very determined woman who has been faithful to her promises and to the compassion of Mother Bruyère, her spiritual mother, had manifested throughout her life.
When she retired, she prayed frequently and made it a point to join the Sisters for the community prayers. Grateful toward her Sisters, she accepts her blindness and realizes that she now also has the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Still, in a moment of sheer lucidity, she asked: please pray that the Lord will grant me the gift of docility in this illness that will take over, day by day”.
Today, she lives in eternal joy,
much greater than all that she has lost.
Obituary Notice