Joan Steffens

HARWICH — Sister Joan Steffens (Sister Mary Elizabeth) died at Epoch Senior Healthcare of Harwich, died on Nov. 7, 2007, after a long illness. She was 80 years of age and had been a Sister of the Good Shepherd for 59 years.

Sister Joan was born in Newton, the daughter of Albert J. and Anna (O'Brien) Steffens. She was educated at Sacred Heart Schools, Newton Center, and received her Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Regis College, Weston, in 1948. She subsequently received her MSW in psychiatric social work at Catholic University, Washington, D.C.

Sister Joan entered the Good Shepherd Novitiate in Peekskill, N.Y., in 1948 to begin her formal training at St. Germaine's Home for her long career caring for the poor and marginalized of society, with special focus on teenage girls and women. She was professed in 1951 and missioned as a social worker to Villa Loretto, Peekskill, N.Y., where she worked with young women, who were most in need of hope and love. During her six years at the Villa, she also served as supervisor of Group Life until she was asked for in Hartford, Conn., where she was given the responsibility of director of Social Services, a position she held for eight years.

A talented social worker, she also served as director of Social Service in Marlborough, and in Morristown, N.J., and in 1971 Sister Joan became involved in the diagnostic program at 17th Street in New York City for the next six years. She continued to keep up with her studies, including religious education, at Fordham University in New York to prepare herself for further service with Catholic Charities in Newark, N.J., where she worked with infant foster care and adoptions.

In 1983, she served as chaplain in Bellevue Hospital in New York for eight years, at the end of which she "retired" and volunteered her services to the Xavier Society for the Blind in New York City. In 2005, she was missioned to Good Shepherd Center in Marlborough, where she continued to serve in a ministry of prayer and congregational service in the Good Shepherd mission.

Sister Joan is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Paul and Janet Steffens of Plymouth; her sister, Anne Linnehan of Orleans; her sister-in-law, Dottie Steffens of Newton Highlands; many beloved nieces and nephews; and many loving friends, including those from the Xavier Society for the Blind. She was predeceased by her twin brother, Richard, in 2006.

A Mass of Christian burial will be offered for Sister Joan by the Rev. Robert Rivard of the Sons of Mary at Good Shepherd Center, on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007, at 11 a.m. Visiting hours will be at Good Shepherd Center, on Monday, Nov. 12, 2007, from 4 to 8 p.m., with a prayer service at 6:30 p.m. Burial will take place at Mount Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury.

Expressions of sympathy in Sister Joan's memory may be made to the Good Shepherd Retirement Fund, 406 Hemenway St., Marlborough. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd were founded by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in France in 1835, in the U. S. (Louisville, Ky.) in 1843; Boston in 1867 and Harwich Port, 1993.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Fitzgerald & Collins Funeral Home (www.SFCFH.com), 378 Lincoln St., Marlborough.