In Memoriam: Sister Alice Ward

In talking with Sister Alice, you could hear her caring heart. She seemed to know when someone needed a listening ear and caring presence. It was this that made her sense the physical pain and isolation AIDS patients endured from a disease that was little-known at the time and drew her to ministry with them. 

Sister Alice Joan Ward, Sister Maria Alice, was born November 6, 1930, in Staten Island, New York, the only child of John and Alice Dalton Ward. Alice attended Our Lady of the Assumption Elementary School and Saint Peter High School, both in Staten Island. After graduation, she attended Saint John’s University in Queens for a year and worked for a year before entering the Sisters of Charity of New York on September 8, 1950. Sister Alice earned a BA in History from College of Mount Saint Vincent, an MA in History from Saint Louis University in Saint Louis, Missouri, an MLS in Library Science from Saint John’s University, and a Certificate in Theological Studies from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California.

Sister Alice’s forty-seven years in active ministry span thirty-seven years in education and ten in healthcare. She taught elementary grades at Epiphany, Ascension, Immaculate Conception, Saint Francis Xavier, all in Manhattan, and at Saint Barnabas in the Bronx. On the high school level, she taught History at Saint Jean the Baptiste and Cathedral, both in Manhattan, and was Librarian and Media Specialist at La Salle Academy, Cathedral Preparatory Seminary, both in Manhattan, and Saint Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows, Queens. Sister Alice’s years in healthcare ministry began with training as a Certified Nursing Assistant in 1991. She applied this knowledge to serve HIV patients at Saint Clare’s Hospital and Saint Vincent’s Hospital, and later worked at Cabrini Medical Center, all in Manhattan. After retirement, Sister Alice contributed her services with campus ministry of the Catholic Center at New York University in Greenwich Village.

In 2018, Sister Alice joined the retired sisters at Mount Saint Vincent Convent and later moved to Cabrini of Westchester in Dobbs Ferry, New York. It is here she died November 7, 2023, in the seventy-fourth year of commitment as a Sister of Charity of New York.

In talking with Sister Alice, you could hear her caring heart. She seemed to know when someone needed a listening ear and caring presence. It was this that made her sense the physical pain and isolation AIDS patients endured from a disease that was little-known at the time and drew her to ministry with them. Eventually she left the classroom for the hospital bedside.

The path we walk in life may be similar to that of others, yet how we walk it is uniquely our own journey. It is along this journey that we meet our God. For all who walk in faith, we know that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord (Romans 8:39). Sister Alice, your God awaits you. Go forward in peace.