A funeral Mass for Sister Joan McDermott was celebrated Feb. 27 at The Sarah Community Marian Chapel in Bridgeton. Sister Joan died Feb. 19 at The Sarah Community. She was 83 years old and had a 65-year vocation as a Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.
Born in Perryville, she graduated from St. Vincent High School in Perryville and entered the Daughters of Charity in St. Louis in 1954. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Marillac College in St. Louis in 1965.
Following initial formation, Sister Joan taught at St. Patrick School in St. Louis (1958-62) and schools in Texas, Illinois and Alabama. Sister Joan served as a library assistant at Marillac College in St. Louis (1966-68) and in Illinois. She served as a unit clerk in medical records and special education teacher at St. Vincent Hospital in St. Louis (1970-77). After teaching in West Plains, Missouri, and in New Orleans, she returned to the Marillac Provincial House in St, Louis in 1978 to assist with various assignments, then she served as a pastoral minister at DePaul Health Center and St. Anne’s in Bridgeton (1979-91).
Sister Joan returned to Marillac House to assist in the library and to serve in pastoral care at Villa St. Louise in Normandy (1991-96). She lived at Villa St. Louise before moving to The Sarah Community.
Survivors include a sister, Carolyn Kruth of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and a brother, Robert McDermott, of Independence, Missouri. Burial was in Marillac Cemetery in Normandy.
