Poor Handmaid of Jesus Christ Sister Joan Kathleen (Colette) Fisher, 95, died Dec. 27 in Donaldson, Indiana.

Born in Indiana, she entered the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ in 1948 and professed her first vows in 1951. 

She was an elementary school and Montessori teacher in Indiana and Illinois, including at Angel Guardian Orphanage.

In 1978, she founded the Daystar Program in Cairo, Illinois, to bring hope to people who were poor, elderly or otherwise disadvantaged, and in 1997, she was one of the founders of Sojourner Truth House for women and children in Gary, Indiana.

Sister Joan was also director of the Poor Handmaid Associate Community from 1986 to 1992. In 2002, she moved to the Poor Handmaid Motherhouse to minister to her mother, who then lived at Catherine Kasper Nursing Home. In 2006, Sister Joan was asked to become a member of the Catherine’s Cottage Supportive Community.

Felician Sister Mary Lourdine (Irene) Lachowski, 101, died on Jan. 6 at Mother of Good Counsel Convent.

Born in Joliet, she joined the Felician Sisters aspirancy in 1938 and attended Good Counsel High School.  She entered the Felician Sisters postulancy in 1942 and professed her final vows in 1950. She ministered for over 50 years as a teacher and principal in elementary schools in Illinois and Wisconsin. Later, she was active in Mercy Home Phone Ministry.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she ministered at St. Helen (1942-1943); St. Joseph (1944-1949); St. Bruno (1952-1953); St. Wenceslaus (1953-1960); Ascension (1963-1971); Holy Innocents (1971-1972); St. Linus, Oak Lawn (1972-1982); and Our Lady of Ransom, Niles (1982-2004); and Mercy Home for Boys & Girls (2004-2020).

Sister of St. Joseph of Carondolet Virginia Anne (Mary Patricia) Fannin, 96, died Jan. 14 in St. Louis.

Born in Chicago, Sister Virginia Anne entered the community in 1948 and made her final profession in 1956.

Sister Virginia Anne spent her first 19 years of ministry working in education in Missouri, Hawaii, Alabama and Illinois.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at St. Viator Grade School (1966-1967).

She then served as a medical records technician in Michigan and Missouri, before returning to Chicago as a receptionist at DePaul University (1978-1979).

She spent the next 21 years at St. Viator school and parish as a religious education instructor (1979-1992), librarian (1970-1998) and parish sacristan (1996-2000).

From 2000 to 2003, she served at Our Lady of the Nativity as a receptionist and a volunteer librarian and tutor.

Mercy Sister Elizabeth (Betty) Campbell, 91, died Jan. 18.

Born in Wisconsin, she entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1955 and professed perpetual vows in 1961.

Sister Betty ministered in solidarity with the Latin American community in both Central America and the United States for more than 60 years, denouncing human rights violations, criticizing U.S. foreign policies that undermined democratic movements in Latin America and conducting consciousness-raising workshops about the effects of these policies on the poor.

Sister Betty received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from St. Xavier College (now University) in 1960. She ministered at two Sisters of Mercy-affiliated hospitals, in Chicago and in Davenport, Iowa, before going to Sicuani, Peru, in 1962. During her 11 years there, she met Carmelite priest Father Peter Hinde, with whom she would minister and advocate for 56 years, until his death from COVID-19 in 2020.

Over the course of her ministry, Sister Betty and Hinde helped start Catholic Worker communities named Casa Tabor in Washington, D.C.; San Antonio; and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.

She also returned to Central America, working in medical clinics in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras.

In 1980, Sister Betty responded to St. Óscar Romero’s call for volunteers to assist the people of El Salvador, and established clinics in the basements of two parish churches in San Salvador, the capital. While in El Salvador, Sister Betty met and became friends with Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and lay missionary Jean Donovan, the four American churchwomen who were raped and murdered by the El Salvador National Guard on Dec. 2, 1980.

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Alban (Marjorie Elizabeth) Hermes, 98, died Jan. 18 in Racine, Wisconsin.

Born in Illinois, she professed vows with the Sinsinawa Dominicans in 1947. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Edgewood College, Madison, Wisconsin; a master’s degree in educational administration from DePaul University; and a master’s degree in pastoral ministry from Loyola University Chicago.

Sister Alban was a teacher and pastoral minister. In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at St. Sabina; Visitation; St. Thomas More; St. Patrick, Lemont; and St. Mary, Evanston.

She was also a pastoral minister at St. Mary Parish, Evanston. She spent the last 28 years of ministry at Our Lady of Knock Parish, Calumet City, where she taught RCIA, led Bible study and ran a food pantry as well as a meal site.

She also ministered in Illinois and in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Alabama.

She is survived by her sister, Ursula Zerbe.