Sister Lucette Paquin

On October 13, 2025, at Maison Jésus-Marie, Longueuil,

Sister Lucette Paquin, (Sister M.-Jean-Robert), went home to God.

She was the daughter of Alphonse Paquin and Yvonne Bussière.

She was 97 years old, with 68 years as a professed religious.

Lucette was born on September 6, 1928, in Saint-Maurice. Surrounded by a family of twelve children, she grew up on a farm with parents of deep faith. From an early age, it was natural for her to help her mother with the housekeeping and to care for the little ones, thus developing a sensitive attentiveness to the needs of others, a quality that would mark her whole life.

Although Lucette did not know any religious sisters in her immediate entourage, she observed the Sisters of the Assumption from a distance at Sunday Mass. This might have been the seed of her religious call. After working as a maid in Three Rivers for three years, encouraged by her employer who recognized her depth of character, Lucette made a vocational retreat at the age of 22.

In July 1950, despite her hesitations, she entered the novitiate of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, choosing to become a lay sister as a way of living out her commitment in concrete and humble service. She pronounced her final vows on August 5, 1957.

Lucette then devoted her life to community service as a cook for nearly 30 years in Valleyfield, the Motherhouse in Outremont, and then in a few small residences. Following that, she was a receptionist, worked in maintenance, helped in administration, and finally accompanied sick sisters as a nurse’s aid. After a year of spiritual renewal, she pursued that service until her arrival at Maison Jésus-Marie in 2010, where she was an inspiring witness through her prayer and her luminous presence.

Lucette will be remembered as a woman of simplicity, attentiveness and devotion, always ready to express, in song, the interior joy that dwelt within her.

“Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous deeds.” (Ps 97 :1)