In Memoriam: Sister Loretto John Meehan, SC

Sister Loretto John was a kind, compassionate and caring person and had a marvelous sense of humor.

Sister Loretto John Meehan (Anna “Josie”) was born May 27, 1928 in Manhattan, one of four girls and one boy of Martin and Mary White Meehan. Josie attended Saint Paul’s School and Saint Jean Baptiste HS in Manhattan and worked for twelve years before entering the Sisters of Charity of New York on September 8, 1959. She joined her sister, Margaret, (Sister Mary Martin, dec. July 22, 2010), who entered in 1945. Sister Loretto John received her LPN in Nursing from Saint Joseph Hospital School of Nursing. She later earned state certification as a Licensed Practical Nurse in New York, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Sister John’s first assignment was to the Convent of Mary the Queen where she served from 1962 until 1971. She then went to the Glenmary Nursing Home in Hayesville, NC where she worked for the next fifteen years. From 1986 until 2000 she worked with the Good Shepherd Home Health Agency, also in Hayesville. In 1996 she received a “Nurse of the Year” award from the North Carolina Association of Home Care for “her high-touch nursing skills, her community involvement, and her special care and concern for her patients and their families.” In a Catholic New York article in 2000, Sister Loretto John was asked what took her to Appalachia. She responded, “You have to blame everything on the Holy Spirit.” When Sister John left Hayesville after thirty years of dedicated service, she left behind a building dedicated in her honor, the Sister Loretto John Meehan Community Service Center, and a bridge, the “Sister Loretto John Meehan Bridge.” This bridge joins Cherokee and Clay Counties in North Carolina. During the dedication of the bridge, it was noted that “during these three decades, she traveled by automobile approximately half a million miles in all seasons to administer care to the sick and dying.” After returning to New York, Sister John continued to assist with health care services, working with the retired sisters at Mount Saint Vincent Convent. In 2010, Sister moved to the Convent of Mary the Queen where she lived until 2014 when she moved with the first group of sisters to Kittay House in the Bronx.

Sister Loretto John was a kind, compassionate and caring person and had a marvelous sense of humor. She lived the three virtues of humility, simplicity and charity throughout her many years as a Sister of Charity. Our loving God welcomes her now as she is reunited with family, friends and all the Sisters of Charity who have gone before her. Rest in everlasting peace, Sister Loretto John.

Sr. Loretto John’s funeral mass will be live-streamed on Friday, June 9 at 10 am. Click here to view at 9:50 am on Friday: https://venue.streamspot.com/217aa3db