Josephine Lavoie of Londonderry, NH, quietly died at the skilled nursing facility, Courville of Nashua, on March 10, 2020. She was the dear and loving wife of Maurice Lavoie. She was just a few weeks away from her 88th birthday. They were married for 48 years and while they did not have any children of their own, they tried to serve God’s children through other avenues.
She was born in 1932, a daughter of the late John and Rose Flynn (Cullen) of Lacoon, Glenfarne, Co. Leitrim, Ireland. Her home was in beautiful Glenfarne Valley. She was raised on a small and typical Irish family farm and she was one of eleven children made up of seven girls and four boys.
At the early age of fifteen, Josephine entered the religious life by joining the Franciscans Sisters of the Atonement and faithfully served her God with them for twenty-three years. She came to the United States between the years of the late 1940’s to the early 1950’s. In her religious life she was on the mission band and ministered and served the Lord in many locations including Philadelphia, New York City, New York state, Maine, and New Hampshire.
In 1968, she became laicized from her religious order but continued to serve God as a lay person on other veins. She became involved in various Catholic/Christian ministries. She was active as a Eucharistic Minister, the prison ministry, a teacher in the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine to the young. The prison ministry included corresponding with various prisoners, informing them of the love and mercy that was available to them from the person, and the God, of Jesus Christ.
In 1968, she met her husband to be Maurice, in Boston and they were married in March of 1972. During Josephine’s married life, her first (and only) job was as the primary accountant for the Greater Nashua Day Care Center, located on Shattuck Street in Nashua, NH. She worked there for nearly twenty-five years and retired in the early 1990’s.
Josephine has been pre-deceased by nine of her siblings. In addition to her husband of Londonderry, her lone family member living is a sister, Francis Kelly, of Sweetwood, Killargue, Co. Leitrim, Ireland.
Josephine will be waked at St Mark’s the Evangelist Church, 1 South Rd, Londonderry on Sunday, March 15th from 4:30pm to 7:00pm. Her life will be celebrated, also at St Marks, on Monday, March16th with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00am. Her burial process will be at a later date in Littleton, NH. Due to lent and all services occurring in the Church, flowers need to be omitted. Donations in her memory may be made to Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter, 2 Quincy St., Nashua, NH 03060. The Peabody Funeral Homes and Crematorium of Derry and Londonderry are assisting the family with arrangements.