Sister Miriam (Margaret) Downey

Sister Miriam Downey           
(Margaret Downey)

August 16th, 1931 – February  11th, 2018
 

It is with sadness that the Sisters of St. Joseph of Sault Ste. Marie announce the death of Sister Miriam Downey on February 11, 2018 at St. Joseph’s Motherhouse, North Bay, Ontario.
 

Sister Miriam (Margaret Clare) was born in Nakina, Ontario, August 16, 1931 to Joseph Lorne and Sarah Anne (Morris) Downey.  Miriam the youngest was predeceased by her five siblings; Cletus (Alice), Ernest John (Grace), Maurice Elden (Marge), Kenneth Allen, Cristel (Sister M. Cleta, Sister of St. Joseph of Sault Ste. Marie).  She is survived by many loving nieces and nephews and grandnieces and nephews.
 

Sister Miriam entered the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Sault Ste. Marie in 1949.

She graduated from St. Joseph’s Hospital, Thunder Bay, as a registered nurse and served in many hospitals owned and operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Sault Ste. Marie.  Following studies at Ottawa University she went onto receiving her MScN., from Western University, London, Ontario and then served as the Director of Nursing at Sudbury General of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Hospital, Sudbury, Ontario and the Marymount School of Nursing, and as Associate Professor at Laurentian University, Sudbury. 
 

Sister Miriam served on the Sisters of St. Joseph, Congregational Leadership Team from 1982 – 1986.
 

Sister Miriam studied hospital administration and served as Administrator at St. Joseph’s Hospitals in Blind River, Elliot Lake, Thunder Bay and Sudbury General Hospital. It was while she served in Elliot Lake that she established the Palliative Care Program at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
 

Following retirement from active ministry, Sister Miriam volunteered for many years at Sudbury General Hospital and St. Joseph’s Villa, Sudbury, Ontario.  Sister Miriam was a woman of deep faith, she thanked God daily for her many blessings and for her God’s faithfulness to her.
 

Sister Miriam will be sadly missed by her sisters in community, her nieces and nephews, many friends especially the Duff family with whom she grew to know and love as a second family.
 

The body of Sister Miriam will be received at St. Joseph’s Motherhouse at 2:00 p.m., on Thursday, February 15, 2018.  Everyone is welcome to join the Congregation for an Evening Prayer Service at 7:00 p.m., in the Holy Family Chapel.  Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m., Friday, February 16, 2018.  Burial will follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery, North Bay, Ontario.

                                                      May Sister Miriam Rest in Peace.