Jeannine Marie Carmen Biron

Jeannine Marie Biron
(1931 – 2022)

Jeannine Marie Carmen Biron, staff member of Madonna House, died peacefully on Monday, February 14, 2022 in St. Francis Memorial Hospital, Barry’s Bay, ON.

Jeannine, the daughter of Robert and Yvonne (Roy) Biron, was born in Montreal on July 6, 1931, and was baptized at the Paroisse La Nativite-de-la-Sainte-Vierge, Montreal, the next day. She attended Ecole Normal Notre Dame des Ecoles, Montreal, and St. Joseph Hospital Nursing School in Lachine, P.Q. Before coming to Madonna House, she worked at St. Joseph Hospital in Lachine, and at Montreal Hospital l’Assumption, Grand Saulte, N.B. She also worked as a nurse in the office of Dr. S. Letendre in Montreal.

She spent a year with the Oblates Missionaires de Marie Immaculee, exploring the Lay Apostolate, before coming to Madonna House. Jeannine became an applicant in January 1962 and made her First Promises in August of that year. Because of an emergency situation in the Madonna House in Portland, OR, Jeannine was asked to go there to assist them for the summer months. In the fall, she was assigned to Marian Centre Edmonton, where she stayed for the next seven years. A few months later, Jeannine took a nursing refresher course at Montreal General Hospital, enabling her to assist in various nursing situations in the Apostolate.

A number of years later, Jeannine wrote to the family, “A great desire that I have is to be able to go and visit every house, and in my humble human way, bring the grace and peace that He gives me each day.” Jeannine did not make it to every house, but she spent time at Maryhouse, YK; Gravelbourg, SK; Muskegon Heights, MI; Alpena, MI; MH Paris, France; and returned to Marian Centre Edmonton to help care for an aging staff worker there.

While in Combermere, she developed her handicraft skills, especially in spinning and weaving, as well as in painting. She extended a gracious welcome to customers in the Mission Shop and the Herb Shop attached to it.

Jeannine was predeceased by her parents and her sister, Denise Viens. Apart from her Madonna House family, she is survived by her nephew Robert Viens, Claude, and Natalie (Dore). Her friendship with her cousin, Madeleine Bourdeau, continued throughout the years, as well as that of cousin Maurice Roy.

The Wake Service and Mass of Christina Burial will be celebrated privately for members of the community of Madonna House on Friday, February 18 and Saturday, February 19, with internment in the Madonna House cemetery.

Madonna House would like to express their gratitude to all of the caregivers who assisted Jeannine in the past years at Our Lady of the Visitation.