Obituary of Sister Agnes Blaquiere

SISTER AGNÈS BLAQUIÈRE Sister Mary Agnès (nee Marie Alma) Blaquière died peacefully on Friday, July 12, 2013 at Santa Maria Senior Citizens Home. Born in Boston, Mass. on June 26, 1909, Sister was the only child of her parents, Agnès Blanchard and Domition Blaquière. The little family returned to their home in Prince Edward Island where Alma studied first in Rustico and then in Charlottetown, where she specialized in music and voice. At a young age she felt called to missionary life and in August 1928 came to Regina to enter the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions. Immediately after her profession of vows in 1930, Sister departed for Vietnam which was then called French Indo China. There Sister worked principally with children, many of them orphans, always including music in their education. In 1941 she was part of a new foundation in Langson, just 20 miles from China. Later she taught in various large convent schools. As the French were gradually forced out of the country, many large convents in the North had to be abandoned. By 1956 Sister Agnès was in Saigon and finally, in 1975, with the withdrawal of U.S. forces, she was told by the authorities that she must leave the country. Courtesy of the American Air Force she was flown home to Canada. Here she taught music first in Regina and then in Fort Frances, ON, finally in 1998 moving west again to the Sisters’ Residence at Santa Maria. For some years she played the organ for religious services as well as visiting the Santa Maria patients. The Sisters are most grateful to all the staff for the gentle care Sister has received since her own move into nursing care in 2006. Funeral Mass will be held at Santa Maria Senior Citizens Home, 4215 Regina Avenue, Regina, SK at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 16 with Rt. Rev. Kenneth Miller presiding. In lieu of flowers friends may wish to send a donation to the Mission Fund of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, 310 Provencher Blvd., Winnipeg, MB, R2H 0G7. To leave an online message of condolence please visit www.speersfuneralchapel.com