Obituary: Sister Yvonne Martell
Sister Yvonne Martell, 95, a member of the Daughters of the Holy Spirit, died April 5 at St. Joseph Living Center in Windham, Connecticut, where she had been in residence since 2016.
She was born on Jan. 3, 1923 in Swanton, the daughter of Adelard and Yvonne (l’Espérance) Martell. She entered religious life at Holy Spirit Provincial House in Putnam, Connecticut, in 1943 and made her religious profession in 1947. She was then known as Sister Jean Marie.
She taught on the elementary level in various schools staffed by Daughters of the Holy Spirit in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York from 1947-1961. In 1962 she served as a nurse’s aide at St. Joseph Villa in Putnam and took an LPN course at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1963. Following this she served as a nurse in Putnam; Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Providence, Rhode Island, as well as in Swanton, Burlington and St. Albans.
In 1992 she was assigned to her hometown of Swanton where she was a pastoral assistant at the Church of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 2001 she continued her pastoral work at Holy Family-St. Lawrence Parish in Essex Junction. She retired to the Holy Spirit Provincial House in Putnam in 2010 and spent her final days at St. Joseph Living Center in Windham.
She is survived by her sisters in community, the Consecrated Seculars and the DHS Associates as well as several nieces.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated April 10 with burial at St. Mary Cemetery in Putnam.
There will be a memorial Mass for Sister Martell at 7 p.m. on April 17 at Holy Family Church, 36 Lincoln St., Essex Junction, with a reception to follow in the parish hall.