Ella Christian SGM

ELLA CHRISTIAN, SGM
1928-2024
Ella Potter Christian grew up in Concord, MA as a child of the Depression and WWII. She was born in the Chicago area to a Protestant "Yankee" family, the third child and only daughter of Jesse Potter, a civil engineer, and Lucy Root Potter, a homemaker. The economic realities of the late 1920's forced her family to return to the home of her father's family in Concord, Massachusetts. Sr. Ella and her two older brothers grew up next door to her paternal grandmother. From a very young age she had a strong love of reading and was excited to get her own library card at the age of 7. She spent many hours reading at her grandmother's house. The beginning of her high school career coincided with the United States entry into WWII and her brothers, John and James, both went into the service. She remembers that time as one of strong community with neighbors looking out for each other.
Following graduation from Concord High School in 1946, Sr. Ella pursued a two-year degree from Bentley School of Accountancy and Finance, then a small business school in Boston, now Bentley University. She began a job as a bookkeeper for a candy factory where she worked for several years. The death of three friends within a six-month period caused her to re-evaluate her chosen profession and she found her job to be meaningless. So, at the age of 27, she entered nursing school at Massachusetts General Hospital. During her training she attended her first catholic mass with a friend, (which happened to be the first time the Mass was said in English at the Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston),and loved everything about it. She attended classes and was baptized as a Catholic in 1956. Following graduation, her nursing career consisted primarily of working with psychiatric patients.
Sr. Ella had always had a clear ambition to marry and have children. In May 1959, she married Bill Christian, whose late wife had been her childhood best friend. She had died a few years earlier leaving two small boys, Billy and Jimmy. Bill was an air-traffic-controller in the U.S. Air Force, so they travelled and moved many times, including living in Germany for two years. While in Germany, the Christians adopted a four-year-old son, Fred, from the orphanage. Her first natural son, John, was also born there. A few years later they spent a year in England where their second son, Peter, was born. Shortly thereafter the Christians separated. For many years, Ella lived a single life, worked as a psychiatric nurse at McLean Hospital with her mother helping with the children when they were small.
With her sons grown and retirement looming, Sr. Ella looked for the next chapter in her life. She had no interest in resting. Sr. Ella was influenced by many people on her journey to the Grey Nun Community. Influenced perhaps by the many times she had watched "The Sound of Music", and having read that in 1980 the Benedictines were celebrating 1500 years, it appealed to her that they had been around so very long and were still thriving. She wrote a letter of inquiry to a Benedictine Convent in Pennsylvania and was invited to visit. Visiting, starting in 1985, it eventually became clear that she was not meant to be there. Just as clearly, she came to know of the Grey Nuns and to know that this is where she was meant to be.
In 1990, Ella was accepted into a Year of Discernment, accompanied by Sr. Marie Mansfield, Vocation Director. The following year began a "Come and See Program", with the community in Arlington, led by Sr Helene Georges, Formation Director. Ella began her Postulancy with the Community in Arlington, MA in 1991 and took her first vows in 1994. She was then missioned to Toledo, Ohio where she worked at the Marguerite d'Youville Program at St. Vincent's Medical Center, an outpatient facility dedicated primarily to improving the health of Toledo's underserved. After the initial shock of the Midwest subsided, Ella found that she loved her new assignment. At the time she was quoted as saying "(W)e cannot 'fix' everyone but at least we can lift some burdens."
Realizing that she enjoyed cold, snow and winter, Ella volunteered to fill a temporary vacancy on the upper coast of Hudson Bay, at a small nursing home located 500 miles north of a hospital. It was her privilege to serve for four months and experience an Arctic winter, meet the Inuit people, help as she was able and to admire those who were authentic missionaries for years on end. She also appreciated how the Inuit had survived such a harsh climate and admired the brilliance of the stars and the majesty of the silently swirling Northern Lights. This mission left her with cherished memories of a simple but meaningful Christmas celebration.
After taking final vows in 1998, Ella was assigned as the Health Care Assistant for Grey Nuns at Youville Place in Lexington, MA. In September 2001, she moved into Youville Place as local superior. She served on the Board of Directors of Youville Place until 2012 and remained the local leader for the Grey Nuns residing at Youville Place until 2021, when she retired at age 93. In June 2024, realizing she needed more assistance than was available at Youville Place, Sr. Ella requested to be moved to Mary Immaculate Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Lawrence, MA, from where she entered eternal life on November 15, 2024. She is survived by her sons, John Chretien and Peter Christian, several nieces and nephews and her Grey Nun Sisters.
A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Ella will be celebrated on Friday November 22, 2024 at 12:15Pm at Youville Place Chapel on 10 Pelham Road. Lexington, MA. Visiting hour will be held immediately prior to the Mass from 10AM to 11AM. There will be a lunch break from 11AM to 12PM in between the visiting hour and the Mass. Interment Holy Cross Cemetery Malden.