Recent Deaths

Sister Mary Joan LeBlanc, OSM
1919–2012

Sister Mary Joan LeBlanc died June 5, 2012, at the age of 93, at Rusk County Memorial Nursing Home in Ladysmith. She was born Jan. 9, 1919, in Ladysmith, Wis., the second of seven children. She entered the Servants of Mary (Servite Sisters) in Ladysmith on Sept. 1, 1932, and made her first profession of vows on Aug. 16, 1937. This year she marked the 75th jubilee of her religious profession.

Sister Joan taught in Catholic elementary schools for 20 years. Eighteen of those years she was teacher and principal at St. Rose of Lima School, Roseville, Minn. She was appointed director of aspirants (high school students wishing to become Sisters) in 1960 and elected to the Servants of Mary leadership in 1961. She became president of the Servants of Mary in 1965 and was reelected to a second term in 1971. She returned to teaching in 1974, following her service in community leadership.

In 1992 she retired to the convent in Ladysmith and continued to find ways to be of service. She  tutored children, taught CCD and reading, and volunteered in the library at Our Lady of Sorrows School in Ladysmith. For the past 20 years, up until the time of her death, she assisted in the Sisters’ development office opening envelopes and recording contributions, and never once used a calculator to total donations.

She is survived by her nieces Sue Novak, Joan (Donald) Smith, Dianne (Carl) Knapstad, Laura (LaRoy) Slaughter, other great nieces and nephews, and her Servite Sisters. She was preceded in death by her mother Laura and father James, sisters Katherine, Virginia Frankfourth, Dorothy, and Arlene Plaza, and brothers LeRoy and Stephen.

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